Lightning returns - A FFXIII-2 story
by Cissmoll
Summary: Alternate timeline, where Lightning awakes from her crystal sleep and returns to a world she can no longer recognize. The year is 501 AF. Noel and his Time Defenders control Bhunivelze with an iron fist. Serah and Snow are on the run. Hope has just turned 28. And Lightning? Her story has only just begun.
1. Prologue

Lightning was falling.

She didn't recognize the city below her, but she knew one thing for sure: She wasn't in Valhalla anymore. She tried hard not to panic, but the roaring wind and the rapidly approaching ground made it difficult to think coherent thoughts. She tried to find her old grav-con unit, but quickly discovered that she was still wearing the black and feathery armor Etro had provided her with in Valhalla. _Crap. Damn that goddess and her inconvenient clothing choices, _she thought for the millionth time, missing her Guardian Corps uniform and its gadgets more than ever. The ground was rushing towards her, and she was running out of time.  
"Odin, I need you!" she yelled, trying to summon her eidolon, but her loyal ally was nowhere to be found. "Odin!" Suddenly it dawned on her that since she wasn't a l'Cie anymore, that giant flying horse she'd grown to love wasn't hers to summon anymore. A pang of sorrow pierced her heart, but she quickly pushed away the pain. She could mourn him later, when she wasn't falling to her death. _Him, and everyone else._ As an ordinary human being she was weak, and more importantly, _vulnerable_. She needed a plan, and she needed it fast.

The pilot was having a really bad day. He was having a killer headache, and his co-pilot had been babbling constantly for several hours. He'd stopped listening about five minutes into the conversation, but his co-pilot's high pitched voice still made his head pound. _Only five more minutes_, he thought to himself. _Only five more minutes, then we'll finally arrive in Academia. _He suddenly realized that his co-pilot had been silent for almost a full minute. He cast a quick glance at her. She was staring out the windshield, mouth ajar.  
"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked her. She raised a hand and pointed at something high up in the sky. That "something" was a blur of pink, black and white, and it was descending at a very alarming velocity.  
"That is one weird-ass looking bird."

Lightning managed to at least land on her feet when she collided with the airplane. It was one of those tiny planes with just a cockpit and a handful of passengers, and her impact made it wobble through the air. She desperately tried to hold on to something, _anything_, but when the plane gained its original altitude she found herself once again falling. The plane-bouncing had slowed her down a bit, but she was still falling way too fast.  
That's when she hit the second airplane. And the third. _What on Pulse is this place and why are there so many airplanes? _she thought, while bouncing off her fourth flying vehicle. This time the vehicle in question was a hoverbike, and she almost knocked the poor driver out of his saddle. The journey came to an abrupt end when she fell through the glass roof of a ridiculously tall building. She hit the floor in a very loud and very painful crash-landing. For a moment she just lay there, unable to breath. The fall, or perhaps the landing, had broken several of her ribs. Her left shoulder was dislocated, her right knee was bent in a really strange angle and she was bleeding from more places than she could count… but she was alive. The relief almost made her smile, but moving her lips would hurt too much, so she focused on the breathing problem instead. She managed to take a shallow breath. Her lungs were making a wheezing sound that usually would have worried her quite a bit, but she hurt too much to care. She took another breath. _I'm alive. I'm not in Valhalla anymore. I'm alive. _  
People had started to flock around her. They were all wearing the same uniforms; white shirts with yellow sleeves and blue ties.  
"Hey, are you alright?" A girl with short blonde hair and friendly eyes reached out a hand as if to help her up. _Yeah, like that's going to happen anytime soon_, Lightning thought and continued to focus on getting air in and out of her lungs. Black spots were starting to cloud her vision, and she felt her consciousness slowly slip away.  
"At least tell us your name," the girl demanded. _Why won't she just leave me alone? _  
"… Lightning." Even her vocal cords hurt. "Lightning Farron." Silence spread through the room. Beautiful, comfortable silence. The world grew darker.  
"Someone please call the Director. Now!" she heard someone yell. Then everything went black.


	2. Rescue

Lightning woke up to the steady beeping of a heart monitor. First she thought she was in a hospital, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was slightly off. It was too quiet. She couldn't hear anything other than the sounds coming from the monitor and her own breathing. The smell wasn't quite right, either. Hospitals usually smell like rubber gloves and hand sanitizer. This place reeked of something else, something very familiar, but she couldn't place it. She carefully opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. When she was absolutely certain she was alone in the room, she sat up and stumbled out of the bed. The bed was the only piece of furniture in the tiny room, and she had a hard time standing next to it without overthrowing her IV stand. The walls were windowless, and the room's only light source was a flickering fluorescent lamp hanging from the ceiling.  
Lightning examined her body. Her chest was black and blue, but her ribs seemed to be healing. All her cuts were bandaged, and someone had put her dislocated shoulder back where it belonged. This "someone" had also put her in one of those backless hospital gowns, and her armor was nowhere to be seen. Neither was her blazefire saber. _Oh hell no_, she thought to herself as she pulled the IV out of her arm. _I am _not _staying here unarmed. _ She ripped off the electrode leads attached to her chest and started to limp towards the door. The heart monitor, no longer able to find a heartbeat, began to give off a high-pitched alarm loud enough to wake the dead. Ignoring the painful protests from her aching body, she walked out the door and into a long, dim-lit corridor. She stood there for a while, contemplating in which direction to go next. _Left or right? _she thought, while the monitor continued its piercing wail. Suddenly, she heard the noise of people running and yelling. It was coming from her right. She automatically turned left and hurried around a corner. She once again came to a stop, this time because of shortness of breath. She strongly suspected that her broken ribs had punctured a lung, and even a first class medic would have a hard time healing that in one session. _Hope and Vanille would've pulled it off. They could heal pretty much anything. _Thinking about them hurt, so she pushed those thoughts away. The party of running people had almost reached the room she'd awoken in. She couldn't quite understand why she'd fled from them. The logical part of her brain told her that it was probably just a group of medics coming to check on her, but her instincts told her to stay put. If there was one thing she learned in Valhalla, it was to trust her instincts. She leaned against the wall, trying to listen in on what was happening.  
"… so where the hell is she?" a man yelled in a raspy tenor.  
"Well, considering her injuries she can't possibly have gained consciousness yet. She has probably just been moved to another room. That monitor does that sometimes. Gives off false alarms, I mean. Cheap model, you know. Does weird things every once in a while. Nothing to worry about. I promise." The owner of the second voice tried his very best to sound calm and confident, but the obvious terror still shone through. She heard the unmistakable sound of someone uncocking a gun. _Gun powder!_ she thought. _That's why the smell was so familiar. _  
"Well", the first man said, mockingly mimicking the poor guy's tone, "that better be the case. You know what happens if you've lost her, right?"  
"Yes, yes of course, sir." His voice was now trembling audibly.  
"So what are you waiting for? Find her!" She could hear the medics running back the way they came from, and the corridor reclaimed its heavy silence.

Deep inside, she already knew the man's name, but she had to look, she had to be sure. She peeked around the corner. He stood in the middle of the corridor with his back against her. His brown hair had grown since she last saw him, and it was now grazing his shoulders. He was still wearing those ridiculous blue pants, several sizes too big for his narrow frame. He was even wearing the same black t-shirt, though it now looked like it was a bit too small for him. His shoulders were broader than before, and his biceps were a lot more emphasized. Instead of the two swords he used to wield, he was now holding a gigantic purple blade in his right hand, a blade she knew used to belong to his predecessor. In his left, he was holding a gun. Oh yes, she knew this man. Standing before her was Noel Kreiss, the guardian of time thought about calling out to him, but her instincts were screaming at her to stay hidden, so she stayed in the shadows and silently watched him walk away.  
_Oh Noel_, she thought. _What on Pulse happened to you?_

A few minutes later, she was limping through the corridor, trying hard to stay upright. She was tired, so very tired. If the medic she'd overheard was telling the truth, she shouldn't even be awake right now. This meant that her body still had the accelerated healing of a l'Cie, even though she didn't have a brand anymore. No one really knew what happened when a l'Cie became human again. After all, it had never happened before.  
She continued her slow journey through the corridor. It had neither furniture nor windows, and all the doors she passed were locked. Every time she turned around a corner, she was faced with an identical hallway with an identical set of doors, all them locked. She could feel her wounded knee getting weaker and weaker, and her lungs were doing that wheezing sound again. Then, finally, there was a sign on the wall. "THE INSTITUTE OF TIME AND PEACE" it said in pretty italicized letters. Beneath it were two arrow-shaped signs. "MEDICAL DEPARTMENT" said the one pointing in the direction she came from. "RECEPTION DESK" said the one pointing ahead.  
After a couple of more minutes of limping including a short breathing break, she finally reached the end of the corridor, which turned out to be a narrow flight of stairs. _Of course the never-ending passageway of doom has to end in a freaking staircase, _she thought miserably as she began to climb.

The receptionist was having a really bad day. The job offer from the Institute of Time and Peace had seemed like a dream come true with its ridiculously high salary, but days like these she really missed having a normal job with normal working conditions. Today, she'd had to deal with a horde of angry people from the Academy, including their extremely upset director. "The ITP has the right by law to confiscate anything that might cause a paradox," she'd told him time and time again. "But she's a person! You can't confiscate a person," he'd said. She agreed with him completely, but the law said otherwise, and so did her boss. She'd managed to stall the Academiers long enough for the Time Defenders to arrive and remove them from the area.  
"I really should resign", she sighed. She was still sitting behind her desk, trying to fill in the paper work that always followed when the ITP decided to confiscate a _someone _instead of a _something_. That's when she heard a strange wheezing sound coming from the staircase leading down to the medical department. A pink-haired girl wearing a blood-stained johnny shirt stood on the highest step, leaning heavily on the banister.  
"Excuse me miss, can I help you?" The girl released her hold of the banister and started to limp towards her. "Miss? Are you okay?" The girl didn't, or couldn't, answer. She realized that the wheezing sounds where coming from the poor girl's lungs. _Oh boy. _The girl opened her eyes and stared at her. Her body was a trembling mess and she was paler than a ghost, but her piercing gaze was completely steady.  
"Give me back my saber, or I'll break your face." The girl took another wheezing breath, and continued: "And, uh, what year is this?"  
_That's it, I'm resigning. _

"It should be somewhere in there", the receptionist said, pointing towards a door on the other side of the room.  
"Then go get it for me. And don't you dare call for help or anything, or I swear to you, I _will _break your face." It wasn't a total bluff. Or at least, Lightning hoped it wasn't. Even in her current condition, she should be able to beat up an unarmed woman in high-heels. Probably. The receptionist let out an exhausted sigh.  
"Sure. Why not. But we've confiscated a lot of weird shit over the years, so it might take a while. When was it confiscated?"  
"Uh… yesterday, maybe?" The receptionist nodded and disappeared into the storage room. A minute later she re-emerged, dropping half a dozen sabers on the floor.  
"Is any of these yours? And please stay away from my desk, your blood is dripping all over my papers." Lightning was speechless. This was a really unexpected turn of events. She tried to wipe the blood off the desk she'd been leaning on with one of her sleeves, but only managed to spread it around even more.  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, uh…" she stuttered, a bit embarrassed. She looked at the sabers on the floor. "Yeah, that one's mine. Thank you." She picked her saber up, immediately feeling a lot safer with her blade back in her hands. "You're going to call security now, right?"  
"Nah," the receptionist said with a little snort, putting the bloodstained papers in her briefcase. "I'm resigning anyway. By the way, it's 501 AF. The exit is over there. Good day." She stood up, straightened out a few wrinkles on her skirt, picked up her briefcase and left.

_501 AF. _Lightning sat down on the now ex-receptionist's desk, her legs no longer able to carry her. _I've been gone for over half a millennium. Everyone I've ever loved has been dead for centuries. _  
She screamed. She screamed until her lungs ran out of air, and then she screamed some more. All the pain she'd been pushing away returned in full scale. _Why did I awake? Why couldn't I just have stayed crystallized? _She grabbed a flowerpot from the desk and threw it into the wall. She hurt. Everything hurt. _"Remember me", she said. As if I could ever forget._ She grabbed the chair and slammed it down repeatedly on the desk, pieces of wood flying everywhere, screaming her breaking heart out.  
"Light? Is that really you?" She turned around, chair dropped and saber pulled in less than a second. In the doorway stood a tall man with silver-gray hair. She rushed towards him, wanting to hurt someone, anyone, but came to an abrupt stop halfway there. _Silver-gray hair? _She lowered her weapon and looked at the man standing in front of her. He was wearing the same uniform as the people she'd almost landed on when she fell from the sky; a white coat with yellow sleeves matched with a blue tie. She looked into his eyes, and almost dropped her saber. She knew those light blue-green eyes. She'd recognize them anywhere.  
"Hope…?"  
"Light! It's really you, isn't it?" Hope close the distance between them and pulled her into a hard embrace. "I knew you'd come back. I always knew it." At first, she was stiff against his chest, but then she relaxed and hugged him back. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd touched another human being. She'd been in Valhalla for so long she'd almost forgotten what human contact felt like. After a while, Hope took a small step back to get a better look at her. He gingerly caressed her face, as if she'd disappear into thin air if he wasn't careful enough. With a gentle touch he tilted her head back so they were face to face. He looked her, like no one had ever looked at her before. She tried to turn away from his piercing gaze, but he held her firmly in place, savoring every detail of her face. She blushed.  
"You haven't aged a single day," he whispered, staring at her eyes, her cheeks, her lips…  
They were interrupted by the sound of a dozen soldiers running through the never-ending passageway of doom, their steps echoing all the way up to the lobby.  
"Come on, Light! They can't do anything to us if we're outside their perimeter, if we run now we'll make it in time." Lightning ignored his proposal, raised her saber and prepared for battle. "What the hell are you doing, Light?" He grabbed her arm and tried to drag her with him.  
"I can't run," she whispered, staring at the staircase.  
"There's too many of them, and we're only human now, we really have to- wait, what did you say?"  
"I can't run, okay? I've got a punctured lung and my knee's a complete mess. I can barely walk. But, since they seem to want to me alive, I should be able to buy you some ti-" Hope decided he'd had about enough of her lone ranger crap and scooped her up in his arms, weapon and all, and ran.


	3. Reunion

_Someone please stop the world, I want to get off, _Lightning thought while trying hard to hang on to Hope without hurting him with her saber. She managed to fold the blade, turning it into a gun instead. _God bless gunblades. _She put her arms around his neck so she'd be able to shoot anything threatening them from behind. She then held on for dear life. When he'd first scooped her up, she'd been certain he'd drop her immediately. She'd always been a little self-conscious about her weight, being 5'7" and packed with muscles, but Hope didn't seem to have a problem with it. He'd been running for several minutes now, and had yet to even break a sweat. He was still carrying her like a freaking princess.  
Lightning couldn't help but feel a bit weirded out by this whole thing. The last time she'd seen Hope, he'd been five feet tall. He had also been seven years younger than her. _And now, he's older than me. _That was too weird to even think about.  
"For the love of Cocoon, Hope, let me down," she for the billionth time. "I could have taken them, I swear. They weren't even that many. And I'm heavy!" She heard a rumbling sound coming from his chest, and realized that he was _laughing_, which really wasn't the reaction she'd been aiming for at all.  
"Oh, Light. I've even missed this side of you. Your stubbornness is unbeatable." They were now running through a park filled with bushes and fancy flowers she'd never learned the name of. _Serah would have known their names. _Serah. Thinking about her sister hurt. _I remember you. _  
"You see that gate over there? That's the border between the ITP and Academia. Hang on, okay?" She took a quick glance over her shoulder. Oh yes, she could see the gate alright. It was hard to miss it. Ahead of them was a giant fence, several meters high. She strongly suspected that the fence encircled the whole institute and its surroundings. The gate itself was just a giant window pane, a glass sheet as high as the fence.  
"Uh, Hope, how do we get out through that thing?"  
"We run. Since it's only there to keep people from coming _in, _not _out_, it's unlocked from the inside. Probably."  
"Probably?"  
"Theoretically." The conversation didn't calm Lightning even the slightest, but what choice did they have? The soldiers from the medical department were still chasing them, and some of them were now on hoverbikes, rapidly shrinking the distance between them. She didn't know who they were or even why they wanted her so badly, but she trusted Hope, and he seemed to think that being caught by these fellows would be a really bad thing.  
"Hope, should I-"  
"Whatever you do, do _not _shoot them. Okay?" Hope interrupted, as if he could read her thoughts.  
"Fine," she snapped, not entirely comfortable with how predictable she apparently was. They were now almost at the gate.  
"Moment of truth!" Hope yelled, and ran the final meters towards the high wall of glass. Lightning closed her eyes, waiting for the unavoidable crash… but it never came. Running through the gate felt like running through a thin veil of water. Hope had been right. The gate was only closed from the outside. From the inside, you could go right through it.  
"Fire exit," Hope said with a big grin. He carefully lowered her feet to the ground, but kept a steadying arm around her waist. "It's illegal to lock a fire exit. Even for the ITP." Lightning didn't answer. She was too occupied with staring at the beautiful chaos that surrounded them. There were hoverbikes and other levitating vehicles flying everywhere. The traffic was completely three-dimensional, the lowest lane mere meters over their heads, the highest at the same altitude as the towering skyscrapers. Brilliant electronic billboards and neon signs adorned the buildings. The ground was covered in moving walkways, crisscrossing through the streets, transporting people from place to place in a pattern she couldn't even begin to understand. Lightning had never seen anything like it. Not even Eden, the old capitol of Cocoon, could compare to this. Overwhelmed by the impression-overload, she didn't notice the approaching airship until it landed right next to them. Training immediately kicked in. She pushed Hope back to shield him with her body, unfolded her gunblade back to its original saber form and positioned herself in a battle-stance, all in one movement. The door to the cockpit opened. Lightning raised her saber… and lowered it again. Because out of the airship climbed a black man with a chocobo chick in his afro.  
"Sazh?" Another heavy stone lifted from her aching heart. _He's alive. _  
"The one and only!" her old friend answered, giving her a hug. _There's an awful lot of hugging going on today_, she thought, and hugged him back. Hugs used to make her feel uncomfortable. Now she actually kind of enjoyed them.  
"Easy there, soldier girl! If I didn't know better, I'd say that's a smile you've got on your face," Sazh said with a smile and a little wink. Then he started laughing. "And girl, that has got to be the weirdest outfit I've ever seen." Lightning tried to see herself from his eyes. Chaotic hair, hospital gown, bare feet and blood all over the place. And, of course, a saber in her hand. Her outfit was quite spectacular, indeed.  
She then realized that Hope had been quiet for a long time. She turned around. Hope was taking off his coat, blushing wildly.  
"Here, please put this on." He tried not to look at her.  
"Why? It's not that cold."  
"Just… please, just put it on." He gave her the coat and walked over to the airship. It suddenly dawned on her that her spectacular hospital-outfit also included a completely open back. She put the coat on, feeling a bit embarrassed, but mostly happy. Hope had changed in so many ways. He was taller, older and way more self-confident than the teenager she used to know, but when he'd blushed and averted his gaze like that he'd looked exactly like her old Hope. _It could have been worse, _she thought, snickering on the inside while she walked towards the vehicle. _At least I'm wearing panties. _

Lightning's amusement quickly died down when she realized she wouldn't be able to climb into the airship on her own. _Stairs. I hate stairs. _  
"Do you need help?" Hope asked from within the vehicle, reaching out a hand. His was still blushing.  
"It's okay, I've got this," she answered, trying to figure out a way to climb those steep steps without using her damaged knee, which still wouldn't carry her weight. Hope sighed, and she was once again airborne. This time, he simply grabbed her under her arms and lifted her into the airship. _I think I liked him better when he was tiny.  
_ "Thanks," she said out loud, while her eyes added _but if you do that ever again I'll kill you. _Hope just smiled at her, dismissing her silent threat.  
"Put on your seat belts, kids!" Sazh yelled from the driver's seat started the engine. Lightning did as he said, and then they were off. She couldn't keep her eyes off the windows. Watching the city from above was even more astonishing than watching it from the ground.  
"What is this place?" she asked in awe.  
"Academia. Or well, technically it's New Academia, but nobody calls it that," Hope answered with a proud smile.  
"You know, soldier girl, Kid's been really busy while you were gone," Sazh added. "He practically built this place."  
"You built this city?"  
"He built this continen_t_."  
Lightning's jaws dropped. "This isn't Cocoon? And what does he mean, 'you built this continent'?" Hope glared a bit at Sazh. "Yeah, it's called Bhunivelze… It's kind of a long story."  
"A continent, Hope. Seriously. I want to hear it. I want to hear everything. How are you guys even alive? You're not still l'Cie, right?" she asked, suddenly a bit worried.  
"No, we're still human, as far as I know. I don't know where to start, really."  
"Start from the beginning. From the day I disappeared." She'd seen everything from Valhalla. Through the eyes of Etro she'd watched the future and every possible ending of every possible timeline. Every single one… except for this one. This one she didn't recognize, mainly because she was actually _in_ it. She wasn't supposed to be here. She was supposed to sit on Etro's throne for eternity, the goddesses failed warrior, watching time pass by through crystal eyes until the end of days. Yet here she was, in a timeline that shouldn't exist.  
"It really is a long story." _Oh, Hope, I believe you. _  
"Oh come on now, Kid. A flight from here to the Academy headquarters takes about an hour, just start talking already," Sazh said, lowering the ship to another lane.  
"Alright," Hope said, taking a deep breath. "From day one, huh. " She already knew the first part of his story. They had all fought against Orphan, and saved Cocoon. Fang and Vanille had become Ragnarok, sacrificing themselves to keep Cocoon from falling from the sky. The rest of them, focus fulfilled, had turned to crystal. Etro, the fal'Cie goddess of chaos, had saved their souls and released them from their l'Cie burdens, making them human once more as an act of kindness. This act had caused a distortion in time, and a string of chaos had grabbed Lightning and pulled her into Valhalla, an unseen realm that lies between the real world and nothingness.

That part of the story, Lightning knew all too well. She'd been written out of history, trapped in an alternative dimension where time stands still. Etro had made Lightning her protector, and as her protector she'd had to fight the current time guardian Caius in an eternal battle. She'd had to time and time again stop him from killing the weakened goddess, because without Etro the chaos of Valhalla would have spread into the real world, destroying time itself. She'd managed to reach out to Noel, a man with the ability to travel through time. She'd asked him to get Serah, and that he'd together with her save the world. This request had ended up becoming of her beloved baby sister. Serah's last wish had been for Lightning to remember her. So that's what she'd decided to do. She'd taken her place in the goddess's throne and entered crystal stasis, accepting her punishment to forever preserve the world's existence in Etro's place. Always remembering her little sister's sacrifice.  
But then, something happened. Something that wasn't supposed to happen. She woke up.

Hope continued telling his story. "The time distortion that dragged you to Valhalla created paradoxes here in this world. Timelines collided, and everything was a mess. I don't know exactly what happened to you over there, but you were fighting Caius, right?" Lightning nodded. "So were we, in our own way. His master plan was to make Cocoon fall, and kill as many people as possible. That would've weakened the veil between this world and Valhalla, and he would've been able unite the two worlds, mixing the living and the dead. So, our main focus was to stop that from happening. My dad founded the Academy, a research and education institute, and I became the director of it after him. The academy tried to find an alternative for the fal'Cie power source, so we could make a new Cocoon when the old one fell. We also built Academia, the predecessor to the city below us. Noel and Serah were still jumping around in time then, fixing paradoxes here and there. They saved us countless of times. I, for one, would have been assassinated 113 AF if it hadn't been for them. They warned us about things that would happen in the future. That's how we knew that Cocoon would fall 500 AF. I knew I had to be there, so I created a time capsule. It's not time travel, not really, but it's as close to it as I could get. It slows down time for the person inside, making a hundred years feel like a few minutes. So no," Hope said with a grin, "I'm not 515 years old. I'm only 28."  
"… You're older than me."  
"Yep."  
"Seven years older."  
"Uh-huh." Hope's grin grew wider, watching it sink in.  
"I used to be seven years older than you."  
"10 points for soldier girl!" Sazh yelled from the front, and Hope's laugh filled the cockpit.  
"Paybacks a bitch, _kid_." Hope ruffled her hair, the way she used to ruffle his. _Crap. He'll never let me live this down. _  
"Oh, you should see your face!" Sazh chuckled. Lightning thought it was time for a change of topic.  
"Sazh, did you use that time capsule thing, too?"  
"Nah, Dajh and I were sucked into the Historia Crux just like you, but we ended up in a weird-ass casino call Serendipity. It's like, somewhere outside time and space. The casino owner, really strange fella', sent me back to Academia in 500 AF, just in time to help with the evacuation."  
"So, Cocoon fell, but without casualties. What happened next?" She tried for a casual tone, but her curiousness shone through.  
"Noel and Serah fought Caius, over here and in Valhalla, and won. Since there's some unwritten law that there always has to be a time guardian, Noel became the Caius' successor."  
"Apparently there's some unwritten law that the time guardian has to be a semi-insane asshole, too," Sazh muttered. _And that the ones that see the future always have to die. _  
"I saw him, in the medical department in the institute. He really seemed… different."  
"We at the Academy suspect that he got sucked into the Historia Crux when he became a Guardian. He saw every possible timeline at once, and it made him a bit… mad." _Oh, tell me about it._  
"Anyhow, he decided that this was the ideal timeline, and swore that he'd do anything to protect it. It sounded like a great plan at the time, but things kind of went out of hand. He founded the Institute of Time and Peace, to stop paradoxes from ever happening again. The ITP gained the right by law to confiscate things that might upset the timeline. Now lately, they've started to confiscate _people, _too. Anyone with memories from a different timeline is to be locked up for safety reasons." _Crap. _ "Time travelers and should-be-goners are arrested as well. It's spinning completely out of control, and right now there's nothing we can do about it." Hope's face hardened. "Bhunivelze is becoming a dictatorship. The Academy is trying to reduce the ITP's power, but our hands are tied. We're not allowed to set foot in the ITP's territory, and that territory is growing every day. It's like a tumor in the middle of Academia, slowly eating it up from within." His voice had intensified with anger during his speech, and in the end he was almost yelling. Without thinking, Lightning took his hand squeezed it. It hurt her to see Hope being in pain.  
"We'll fix this, okay?" she said, looking him straight in the eye. "I'll help you fix this. I won't let them destroy your city." She looked at him, the same way he'd looked at her at the ITP. When he'd been all goofy and smiley it hadn't been that noticeable, but now she could really see how much he'd aged. His bone structure was now much more pronounced, with high cheekbones and a strong jaw. His nose was straighter, his lips were fuller and fine lines surrounded his eyes.  
He'd told her that she looked like she hadn't aged a single day. While that might be true, on the inside she felt old. So very old. She'd been fighting in Valhalla for millennia, and sleeping on the goddess' throne for even longer. She'd seen billions of timelines, all ending in misery and despair. Hope, as if sensing her pain, scooted as close to her as his seat belt allowed and put an arm around her shoulders. She leaned in to him, immediately finding that perfect head-resting spot where his neck and shoulder met. She was tired, both mentally and physically.  
"Tell me about Bhunivelze."  
He told her about the science he'd worked so hard on that made the whole thing fly. He told her about its cities. He told her about the Academy and everything he'd worked on over the years.  
His voice had darkened over the years. _It's a nice voice_. His hand, so much larger than before, was soothingly stroking her hair. _His hands are also nice._ Just as she drifted off, she felt his lips press a soft kiss on her forehead.  
_His lips are nice, too.  
_


	4. Revelations

_Lightning was fighting a battle she knew she could never win. Though she and Caius were equals in both strength and skill, she could never defeat him. He was immortal, and she was not. Her gunblade clashed against his monstrous purple sword. "Impressive," he said, and turned into his bahamut form with an explosion that sent her sailing over Valhalla's rooftops. She summoned Odin, letting her eidolon catch her and throw her right back into the fight. She was an army of one, Valhalla's warrior goddess. Their battle would continue on for eternity, none of them able to defeat the other.  
Through the eyes of Etro, she one day saw the death of Serah. She helplessly watched the seeresses claim her sister's soul. She tried to reach for her, but Caius was in the way. Lightning's obvious distraction gave him the opening he'd sought for so long, and he ended the battle with an unforgiving slash of his sword. The chaos of Valhalla took hold of her, pulling her down its endless abyss, slowly devouring her body and soul… _

Lightning woke up with a sharp intake of breath. Her heart was pounding, and adrenaline flowed through her body. She sat up with a jerk, and head-butted Hope in the process. "Aouch!" they both yelled simultaneously.  
"Bad dream?" Hope asked, rubbing his battered chin.  
"Yeah… Sorry." _More like a bad memory. _She glanced at him. He was watching her with worry in his eyes. She quickly looked away. _Please don't ask. Please, please, please don't ask. _She wasn't ready to talk about Valhalla, not yet. _Not ever. _Thankfully, Hope remained quiet.  
"Cuddle time's over, kiddos!" Sazh yelled from the driver's seat and turned off the engine. Lightning hadn't even noticed the landing.  
"How are your wounds now?" Hope asked while retracting his arm from her shoulders.  
"Better." She removed her seat belt and stood up in the narrow cockpit. Her wounded knee hurt a bit, but it seemed to be able to carry her weight. She took a cautious step. "_Much _better. I think I've still got the quick healing of a l'Cie." She looked at the two men, now standing outside the vehicle. They didn't look nearly as surprised as she felt.  
"I suspected as much," Hope said, "since you're awake and all. A normal person would probably still be in a coma. It seems like some of our l'Cie traits tagged along when we were made human again."  
"I've got rapid healing too," Sazh added, "and so does Dajh and Snow. Serah kept her medic abilities. And Hope here, oddly enough, kept his super strength." Hope tried to make an insulted face, but ended up laughing instead. Sazh joined his laughter and ruffled his hair.  
_Serah. _Lightning lost control over her emotions for just a second, and pain washed over her, threatening to drown her completely. _Serah was a medic, too? _She'd never had the chance to have a full conversation with Serah after Cocoon fell. And now, she never would. _I remember you. _She took a deep breath. The men were still joking around, unaware of her inner turmoil. _Come on, Light, _she thought to herself. _Get your crap together._ She took another deep breath, and pushed the pain away. She was good at that. She always had been.  
"So, where are we and where are we going?" Lightning asked, sounding harsher than she intended. _  
_"The Academy HQ," Sazh said with a grin, ignoring her grim tone. He'd always done that, from the moment they met on that train, the day they all became l'Cie. He'd looked past her hard exterior and simply accepted her the way she was. There were only a handful of people in this world she actually trusted, and two of them were standing right next to her.  
"Smiling again, soldier girl? You're gonna strain a muscle if you keep this up!" Sazh patted her on the head. "This is where I take off. A man's gotta work, you know." He gave her another hug and ruffled her hair in a very fatherly way. "Welcome home, Light." He walked back to his airship and took off.  
She felt a tiny hint of happiness spread in her heart. Sazh was alive. During their adventures on Pulse, Sazh had become like a father to her. _He became a father to all of us. _She looked over at Hope, standing next to her. He'd always been the group's little kid. She'd taught him how to fight and how to stay alive. She knew he felt indebted to her for that. What he didn't know was that she was just as indebted to him; he'd taught her how to _feel_ again.  
When the Pulse fal'Cie took her humanity away from her, she'd turned her emotions off completely. She'd kept on fighting unnecessary battles just to push her pain away. If she'd been on her own, she never would have stopped. She would've kept on fighting over and over until someone or something finally managed to kill her.  
But, she hadn't been alone. A five feet tall, fourteen-year-old boy had insisted on tagging along with her. He'd been pretty much helpless, so keeping him alive hadn't been easy. Somewhere along the way, she'd bonded with this little boy. He'd given her something to fight for. He'd given her hope. _Too bad I can never say it out loud, though, _she thought, snickering a bit on the inside. _"Hope, you gave me hope." It would sound like the worst pun ever. _

Together, Lightning and Hope walked through the hangar and into a nearby elevator. The elevator was almost as big as her old bedroom in Bodhum and had a ridiculous number of buttons. Judging by the buttons, it seemed like the building was more than a hundred stories high.  
"Uh, Light? I need my keys. They're in my left chest pocket." At first Lightning didn't understand what he was talking about, but then she remembered that she was still wearing his coat. She checked the pocket and pulled out its content. The key bundle didn't look like any key bundle she'd ever seen before. Sure, some of its pendants were normal keys, but most of them were cards of different sizes. She noticed another item attached to the key-ring that was neither a key nor a card. It was a silver lightning bolt, adorned with pale pink gems. It was beautiful. She looked at Hope and raised a questioning eyebrow, while handing over the so called keys. Hope took great care in avoiding her gaze. He picked out one of the cards and held it against a sensor on the wall. The elevator started moving. Lightning looked in one of the many mirrors covering the walls. When was the last time she'd seen her own face? She couldn't even remember. Feeling a little awkward, she looked at the girl in the reflection.  
Her pink hair looked like a bird's nest. Her hospital gown was stained with blood, and Hope's oversized coat made her look like a child wearing grown-up clothes. Her complexion was even paler than she remembered it, and her eyes looked haunted. Next to Hope, she looked like a crazy person.  
The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. They were on the top floor, and the sun was shining through the glass of the building's ceiling. Recognition hit her, and she looked up. Right above her was a person-sized hole. _Crap.  
_"Sorry about that," Lightning said, feeling more awkward than ever. "I mean, for breaking the ceiling." Hope just smiled. They were in some sort of lobby, not very different from the one at the ITP. The walls where painted white, completely bare of any decorations. A couple of couches and armchairs were scattered around the room, all white. The wooden floor saved the room from being inhospitably sterile and gave it a bit of a bohemian touch. One of the room's many doors opened, and in came a horde of people. She recognized some of them from her landing.  
"… I swear, she just fell from the sky, and then the TD came and it was like-" The group went completely silent when they saw Hope. "Director," they said in one voice and saluted. Hope gave them a dignified nod. The group relaxed and left the room. Lightning was starting to get a headache. _This timeline is weird._ Together they went through the door the academiers had just left and entered a corridor.  
"Oh crap, not another never-ending passageway of doom," Lightning sighed. She didn't even realize she'd said it out loud until she heard the sound of a badly repressed chuckle. She glared at Hope. Her glares used to make people shut up. Hell, she could even make children cry and grown men run and hide, just by staring at them. Hope however seemed to be immune to her killer glance. It annoyed her a little.  
"It's okay, Light. You're still terrifying," he said with laughter in his eyes. "I've just missed you, that's all." Lightning didn't know how to answer to that, so she remained quiet.

Hope gave her a guided tour around the Academy HQ. Most of the rooms where lecture halls, but there were also several workshops, libraries, gyms and cafeterias. There were academiers all over the place, and every single one of them stopped whatever they were doing just to salute Hope. She could tell they all genuinely liked him.  
They ended up in one of the cafeterias. Though white was still the dominating colour on walls and furniture, the cafeteria was really cozy. The rugs on the floor were fluffy, and the smell of coffee was downright glorious.  
"Black coffee, right?" Lightning nodded. Hope was already at the counter, ordering things from the cashier. _If that really qualifies as 'ordering', _Lightning thought while watching Hope go behind the desk, open the pantry and grab just about everything he could carry. _It's good to be the boss, I guess. _He somehow managed to bring everything to their table without spilling a single drop of coffee, which was really impressive considering he was carrying no less than half a dozen full cups. He placed five of them in front of her, keeping one cup for himself. He unceremoniously dumped the rest of his stolen goods in a giant heap on the table. She took a sip of her coffee. Her eyes widened. It was by far the best coffee she'd ever had. Before she knew it, she was on her fourth cup.  
"It totally beats the coffee we had on old Cocoon, right?" Hope said with a goofy grin. "We import the beans directly from Pulse now." Lightning grabbed a sandwich from the pile and took a bite. She let out a loud groan. "This is_ so good._" She finished her first and second sandwich in the blink of an eye. "It might be because I haven't eaten in millennia, but these sandwiches are amazing."  
Her feast was interrupted by the sound of a cup breaking into tiny pieces on the floor. She reluctantly looked up from her third sandwich. Hope was staring at her, completely aghast. "It's not like I was starving," she quickly added. "You just don't get hungry in Valhalla."  
Her words didn't seem to calm him at all. He swallowed hard a couple of times. "You were in there for millennia?" he finally said with a trembling voice. _Oh crap. _She hadn't planned on telling him that. She thought about lying, but ended up nodding instead.  
"I knew time stood still over there, but I never thought… Shit. I'm so sorry, Light. I'm so, so sorry."  
"You didn't do anything wrong."  
"No, but neither did you." Hope was really upset. "I should have tried harder to get you out. I didn't even realize you were stuck in there until I found those oracle drives. I'm so sorry, Light. I should have believed Serah right from the start."  
"Stop apologizing. I know you did everything you could. I saw it from Valhalla." Lightning gave him a sad smile. "I saw thousands of timelines, and you were fighting for me in every single one of them."

They finished the meal in silence. Lightning could tell Hope was still bothered by her revelations, but she was grateful he didn't ask her any more questions. The cashier girl came over with a mop and some paper towels, trying to clean up the spilled coffee, but Hope immediately shooed her away and cleaned up the mess himself. After eating an uncountable number of sandwiches, she caught a glimpse of something in the pile. Something amazing. She looked at Hope, mouth ajar. "Is that… is that really…?"  
Hope couldn't help but smile. "It's chocolate, yes. We have lots of it nowadays. Help yourself." He watched as Lightning with a childish enthusiasm grabbed a chocolate bar. She carefully opened the wrapper. They were never able to grow cocoa beans on old Cocoon, so chocolate had always been insanely expensive. Only the richest citizens of Eden could afford it, so she'd only heard stories about it. She took a small bite. Her taste buds almost exploded. It was the perfect mixture of sweet and bitter, and it melted deliciously on her tongue. She took a second bite. It tasted just as heavenly.

Hope couldn't do anything but stare at the wonder taking place in front of him. He had to remind himself that the girl across the table was a soldier, thousands of years old. He also had to remind himself that this girl could kill him in seconds if she had to, and that she had fought as the knight of a freaking _goddess. _Yes, he knew all of that. But that girl in front of him was right now shining with pure happiness over a piece of chocolate. She looked up at him and smiled. It wasn't a half-smile or a sarcastic grin; it was one of her _real _smiles. His heart nearly stopped. It was just as he remembered it. 14 years later, and Lightning's true smile was still the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. _And I'd do anything to protect it. _He knew it would disappear in just a few seconds when the soldier within her reemerged, so he treasured every last moment of it.  
_I'd do anything to protect her. _

A couple of minutes later, they were walking through the headquarters again. Lightning was carrying her gunblade in her right hand, and three big chocolate bars in her left. _My outfit just keeps getting better and better. _They were walking towards Hope's room, since he apparently had a surprise for her there. "You live at the Academy?" she'd asked. "I had an apartment nearby for a while, but I never used it. I'm always here anyway," he'd answered with a shrug. She could picture it all too clearly; the workaholic going to work in the middle of the night just to make sure everything worked the way it should. Hope in a nutshell. They walked past the lobby. The broken ceiling reminded her of something she'd been meaning to ask.  
"How did I end up at the ITP?" The question had been nagging her for a long time. "I mean, I did fall through _your _roof."  
Hope sighed. "Remember how I said that the Academy wasn't allowed to be at the institute? Well, it doesn't work both ways. The time defenders are allowed to go anywhere if they suspect there's something there that might upset the timeline. A person falling through the sky after being gone for half a millennium apparently qualifies."  
"Why don't they just come here and try to take me away again, then?" She deliberately used the word "try". They would _not _be able to snatch her as easy as the last time.  
"They don't have any proof of you being here, so according to some political mumbo jumbo they can't come inside if we don't invite them. They'll be here as soon as they come up with new reason for it, but you're safe here for at least a day or two."  
"No proof? They saw you breaking me out, didn't they?"  
"The Academy has partial immunity. They have to have extremely strong evidences to do an official assault on this place. We did build this whole continent, after all." Hope gave her a humorless smile.  
"Your legal system is kind of stupid."  
Hope sighed again. "Tell me about it. People were so afraid of paradoxes after everything that happened that they agreed to pretty much everything Noel said. I suppose the laws were meant to be temporary, but now he refuses to give up his rights. People are moving down to Pulse just to make sure they won't get confiscated. No one's safe anymore."  
"What do they do to the people they confiscate? Is it like a prison, or what?"  
"We honestly don't know. All we know for sure is that the people they confiscate never come out again." He paused for a moment. "I don't think anyone's escaped from there before. You're special as usual, Light." Hope pulled out one of his many keycards and opened an ordinary-looking door in the ordinary-looking corridor. The door made a beeping sound as it unlocked.  
Lightning didn't know what she'd expected, but she knew it wasn't _this. _It was the biggest apartment she'd ever seen and it was extremely far from ordinary-looking. The ceiling was made of glass, just like in the lobby. The walls where white, but covered with huge photos of places from old Cocoon and Pulse. The kitchen was all stainless steel and wooden surfaces, and was equipped with gadgets she couldn't even begin to understand. The living room consisted of a set of sofas surrounding a ridiculously big TV-screen, and next to it was a fireplace integrated in the wall. He even had his own workshop in one of the rooms connected to the living room.  
When Lightning had finished exploring his spectacular home, Hope opened a cabinet that made a strange hissing sound. "Air locked," Hope explained with a smile. "Great for time traveling." He picked up a box and put it on the floor. It was an ordinary cardboard box, with "Lightning" written on top of it in Hope's handwriting.  
"Open it. It's yours." Lightning kneeled down on the floor. She carefully opened the box and looked inside.  
"No way!" she exclaimed while picking up its contents. In the box was a Guardian Corps uniform. It was exactly like the one she used to wear back in the days when she was a sergeant.  
"Thank you so much, Hope. I really appreciate it." She gave Hope a smile. He goofily smiled back, slightly blushing.  
"I always knew you'd come back one day, so I saved one for you. The Time Defenders took over the chores of the Guardian Corps, but I thought you'd still want it."  
"You were right. Thank you." There was one more thing inside the box, so she picked it up. It was the survival knife Serah had given her on her twenty-first birthday. Her emotions came dangerously close to the surface. She took a deep breath. She didn't want to break down in front of Hope. Her hands were shaking as she hugged the knife close to her chest.  
"What's wrong?" Hope asked, looking at her anxiously.  
"I.. I just miss her, that's all. She'd still be alive if it wasn't for me," Lightning said, trying desperately to keep the pain out of her voice. _Please don't let me cry in front of Hope. _  
"Light?" Hope sat down in front of her and grabbed her shoulders. He then said two words she'd thought she'd never hear again. Two tiny words that made her heart explode.  
"Serah's alive."

ALTERNATIVE ENDING  
They were walking towards Hope's room, since he apparently had a surprise for her there.  
Light: "Is it your dick?"  
Hope: "It's my dick."  
*SMEXY TYMES*

So sorry guys. I just couldn't help myself. Thank you all for reading, by the way. I really enjoy your feedback.


	5. Relief

_Serah's alive.  
_The words were echoing through Lightning's head. She felt a familiar numbness spread through her body, shutting down every little hint of emotion. She was no longer a person. She was a soldier.  
She stared at Hope, still crouching next to her. He was looking at her quizzically. When she leaped for him, he was caught completely unaware. He landed hard on his back, and Lightning was on him instantly. She pinned his shoulders to the floor with her knees, and pressed the survival knife against his throat.  
"What did you say?" she growled.  
"Serah's alive…?" Hope was staring at her like she'd gone crazy. _Well, that ship sailed a long time ago. _She was breathing heavily and her heart was pounding. Her eyes burned with pure rage.  
"Don't lie to me!" She pressed the knife down harder, hard enough to break the fragile skin and release a thin trail of blood.  
"I'm not, I swear! She's on the run with Snow, they're hiding from Noel down on Pulse. Please, calm down, Light." He was talking faster and faster, realizing the gravity of his situation. "Come on, Light, it's me. I would never lie to you. You know that."  
Hope's words were starting to sink in. Was it really possible? She'd seen Serah die, but that had been in a timeline where her return should have been impossible, too. Did the timeline change so drastically that Serah's death was undone? She looked at the poor man beneath her. No, he wouldn't lie to her, not about something this important. Not about Serah. She could feel her cold façade break down brick by brick. Her emotions slowly returned to her body.Pain, anger, regret… and a tiny fragment of hope. She stood up in one smooth movement, allowing Hope to quickly scramble backwards. _Great. Now I've scared him, too. _She turned around, picked up her dropped gunblade and walked towards the door. When she tried to open it, a big hand slammed the door shut again.  
"What the fuck, Light? You can't just pull a stunt like that and walk away," Hope snarled from behind her back. A tug-of-war erupted; Lightning trying to drag the door open, Hope keeping it closed. When she realized she wouldn't be able to budge Hope, she turned around and tried to slip past him. He blocked her escape route by bracing his other hand against the door, effectively trapping her with his body. She glanced up. Hope was standing way too close, invading her treasured personal space, and he was _pissed.  
_"You have some serious explaining to do."  
"Move." She glared at him and tried to push him away. It was like trying to move a mountain. _Crap. L'Cie strength, _she thought, getting more and more frustrated. His proximity was making her slightly panicky."Move, dammit!"  
"No, I'm not going to move, not until you tell me what's going on. I know you, Light. If I move now, you'll just run away, because that's what you do when someone gets close to you. You're so afraid of relying on people, of showing any form of weakness. Don't you get it? You can_ trust _me. I can see something's wrong, and I want to help you, but you just won't let me! What do I have to do to make you trust me?" His voice broke in the last sentence. The raw honesty in his words made her shiver.  
Hope rested his forehead against hers. "Talk to me. Let me help you. _Please_."  
And just like that, she decided to tell him everything. She told him about the endless battles of Valhalla, and the visions she saw through the eyes of Etro. She even managed to tell him about Serah's death.  
During her story, they'd moved from the door to the sofa. She now sat curled up in one of its corners, trying to gather her strength. The hardest part of the story was yet to come.  
"Serah's spirit came to me. She told me we'd meet again, and her final request was for me to remember her. So, to protect her memory and Etro's legacy, I… I turned myself into crystal. I was never meant to wake up again, not until the end of days. I would sit on Etro's throne forever. That was my punishment. Hope, I'm not supposed to be here. I'm a paradox. I failed Etro. I failed Serah. I haven't atoned for those sins yet. Nothing I do will ever be enough…" Her body was trembling almost as much as her voice. "I… I should probably go back to the ITP before I mess up this timeline completely. I don't deserve to be here anyway." She couldn't bring herself to look at Hope, so she fixed her gaze on the floor instead.  
"Damn it, Light!" Hope was furious. "Are you going to give up just like that? You don't owe that damn fal'Cie anything." He crouched down in front of her and grabbed her face, forcing her to meet his gaze. "Serah's alive. You're here. The timeline changed. I don't give a shit about Etro and her punishment. So you think you don't deserve to be here, huh?" He grabbed one of her wrists and stood up, pulling her up with him. He wrapped an arm around her waist in an iron grip and buried his other hand in her hair, holding her close to his chest. "I don't care. I won't let you give up. I won't let them take you, not when you're finally here again." He was breathing heavily. She could feel his heart pounding through his chest. "I don't care if you don't deserve to be here," he whispered. "I deserve to have you here."

Hope scooped her up in his arms and sat back down on the sofa, pulling her into his lap without releasing his desperate grip. Lightning tried to move away, but he only tightened his embrace. "I won't let them have you," he said, burying his nose in her hair. His whole body was shaking. _Oh crap, _Lightning thought, realizing what was going on. _I gave him a panic attack.  
_Not until then did she fully understand how lonely Hope had been. He'd been working day and night to save the world for so many years, and the world still tried its very best to ruin itself anyway. The city he'd built with his own two hands was slowly turning against him. Serah, gone. Snow, also gone. Fang and Vanille, gone and gone.  
"I'm sorry, Hope. I won't leave you." She leaned her head against his chest and let him hold her.

After several minutes, Hope's body finally stopped shaking. He allowed Lightning to shift her body so she could sit next to him instead of on top of him. He kept a protecting arm around her shoulders.  
"Well, that was intense," Lightning said with a little snort. Her upper arm had hand-shaped bruises, and Hope's throat still had a tiny scar as a result of her previous assault.  
"Yeah… I'm sorry."  
"I'm sorry, too." They sat side by side in a comfortable silence, simply enjoying each other's company.  
"So," Lightning said after a while, "Serah's alive, huh?"  
"Yup. Last time I heard from her she was in Oerba, freelancing as a medic."  
"Has she married that giant jerk yet?"  
"No, they're waiting for you." Lightning rewarded his answer with a smile. Hope looked surprised.  
"I thought you couldn't stand the guy?"  
"I can't, but he seems to make my sister happy somehow, and that's good enough for me." _Serah really is alive. _Her heart was singing with joy.  
"Hey, Hope, is it okay if I take a shower? I'm getting a little tired of this outfit."  
"Sure. There are clean towels under the sink." She picked up her gunblade and the Guardian Corps uniform and headed towards the bathroom.  
"What the- Hope! Your bathroom is bigger than my old livingroom!" She could her Hope's laughter as she locked the door behind her.

After some misadventures involving a way too complicated shower cubicle, she was clean at last. Her skin was no longer covered in layers upon layers of dirt and dried blood, and Hope's shampoo had made her hair all shiny and fluffy. She was wearing her uniform again, and it made her feel at home. The miniskirt didn't even bother her anymore. _At least it's not made of feathers. _She was just about to put her gunblade in the case hanging from her back, when she saw a small gift box on the bathroom floor. Since it hadn't been there before, she assumed it had fallen out of one the uniform's many pockets. She picked it up. The box was small, approximately the same size as a match box. She wasn't sure the box was meant for her, but she opened the lid anyway.  
Oh yes, it was meant for her alright. In the box was a bellybutton piercing, looking just like Hope's keychain. The lightning bolt was smaller, obviously, but had the same setting of pale pink gems. It was also just as beautiful. _I wonder if he even remembers putting the gift box in there. _She removed her own piercing, a simple silver labret, and inserted the new one. It was perfect in size, and the pale pink gems matched her hair. She really, really liked it. The Guardian Corps uniform showed just a tiny bit of her midriff, so the piercing would only be visible in certain angles. _Visible enough for a fourteen-year-old to notice it, apparently. _She was amazed that he'd even remembered such a small detail as a bellybutton piercing. It made her feel a little warm and fuzzy on the inside.  
She left the bathroom. "Hope! Thanks for th-"  
The door leading out to the HQ was open, and in the doorway stood a very upset academier.  
"Director, what's the plan? What do we do? They'll be here any minute!"  
"What's going on?" Lightning asked, even though she really knew the answer.  
"Noel Kreiss is in the building, and he brought company."


	6. Recognition

The cafeteria cashier was having a really bad day. Earlier, she'd had to tell a horde of hungry academiers that she was all out of sandwiches and chocolate, and the horde of hungry academiers had quickly transformed into a horde of _angry _academiers. She sighed. She knew she only had herself to blame. When it came to the Director, she simply couldn't say no, not even when he stole all her goods. Not when he looked at her with those beautiful blue eyes, and smiled that beautiful smile… She sighed again. Having a crush on the Director sucked. Thanks to his good looks and brilliant mind, the Director was one of the most popular bachelors in Academia. She was way out of his league.  
She'd been working at the HQ for five years, and she'd seen him enter his apartment with countless of beautiful girls. She'd never seen a single one of those girls more than once, though. It was as if he was searching for the perfect girl, and no one was ever good enough. _Or maybe he just has commitment issues.  
_She was just about to close the cafeteria when the tumult began. It started off as people running and yelling in the distance. First she thought it was just one of the academiers having a eureka-moment, a weekly occurrence, but then she heard the gunshots. She took cover behind her desk, trying to make herself as small as possible. _What on Pulse is going on? _  
"Where is she?" she heard a man roar from right outside the cafeteria, quickly followed by more gunshots. She started to tremble with fright. They were getting closer. "Where is she?" The bellowing man and his armed crew were now inside the cafeteria, and she could hear the sound of tables and chairs being overthrown. The cashier started to cry. She'd never been so terrified in her whole 23-year-old life. Someone grabbed her blonde ponytail and pulled her over the counter. She was suddenly face to face with dozens of guns, all aimed right at her. Their leader was still holding her hair in a firm grip, preventing her from collapsing on the floor. His mismatched eyes, one blue and one violet, were insane. Completely, utterly insane. She started to sob uncontrollably.  
"Where is she?" the man snarled.  
"Wh- who?"  
"The girl! Pink hair, big saber. You can't fucking miss her. Where is she?" _Oh, _she thought, _that girl. _The pretty one who'd be spending the night with the Director. _That _girl.  
"She's in the Director's apartment." The grip on her ponytail loosened instantly, and she was abruptly dropped on the floor. Moments later, she was once again alone in the now wrecked cafeteria. _Did I sign that girl's death sentence? _she thought, deeply ashamed but oh so happy to be alive. She leaned back against the desk and cried.

"Noel Kreiss is in the building, and he brought company."  
_Crap, _Lightning thought while watching Hope delegating orders left and right. She heard gunshots.  
"Hope, they're shooting people. Civilians. Are they allowed to do that?" The guardian corps soldier within her was twitching, commanding her to save the innocent bystanders.  
"They're using sedation bullets," Hope answered grimly. "They render you unconscious for about an hour. They also hurt like hell."  
"Better than the alternative." She pulled her gunblade, turning it into its saber form. "I should be able to take them all down without casualties."  
"There's like, shitloads of 'em," a wide-eyed academier chimed in. "At least 40 time defenders, and then there's Noel, too." He shuddered. "That mega sword of his looks _nasty._"  
"A troop of 40?" Lightning smirked. "Piece of cake." She started to run towards the commotion. Hope looked like he wanted to stop her, but then he pulled out his airwing from a hidden sheath in his uniform. _So he kept that boomerang, huh. _  
"No killings, okay?" he said with a smirk matching hers. And then they were off.

The time defenders were busy wrecking the lobby when Lightning and Hope reached them. They were all wearing an outfit almost identical to the one the PSICOMs used to wear, a plate armor covering them from head to toe. Keeping them alive wouldn't be too hard. Using her grav-con unit for extra leverage, she leaped into the air and landed in the middle of the group. She knocked out a couple of time defenders with the broadside of her gunblade, clearing a path for Hope. They fought back to back, just like they used to when they were l'Cie. Hope had gained some new moves since they last fought together. In addition to his boomerang throws, he was now also knocking soldiers out by punching them barehanded. _Looks like someone has been training with Snow.  
_They quickly found their old fighting rhythm and were soon moving too fast for the soldiers to shoot them. She heard Hope's boomerang come flying, so she ducked and let it hit a very surprised opponent. She grabbed the boomerang and tossed it over her shoulder. "Thanks!" Hope yelled from behind her. Lightning smiled. Oh, how she'd missed this. They battled on, the duo completely outclassing the army. Until the army's leader decided to join the party, that is.  
"Lightning!" the familiar voice yelled. _Crap.  
_ "Noel." She turned around. Five time defenders were holding an almost unconscious Hope down. The tip of Noel's monstrous sword was mere centimeters from his neck. _Crap crap crap.  
_"Let him go." She took a step forward, raising her gunblade.  
"Move, and I'll slit his throat. Don't think I won't do it. One more death on my conscience won't do anything to me." Lightning stopped dead in her tracks.  
"You're bluffing."  
"Maybe, maybe not. Do you really want to bet his life on it?" They both knew the match was settled. She would never risk Hope's life.  
"Coward. Why won't you fight me? Afraid you might lose?" She was getting desperate. As a time guardian, Noel was gifted with the same traits as a l'Cie, but she figured they'd be pretty even in a fair fight. He might be stronger, but she had more experience, especially when it came to fighting time guardians. If she could just get him to attack her, she could at least stand a chance.  
"Lower your saber, Lightning."  
"Will you release Hope?"  
"No. He's the official reason why we're here. He's been hiding a fugitive, you know. He might be the Academy's beloved Director, but he's not completely immune to the law. So, we have to bring him in. But he'll live. For now." He nudged Hope with the sword.  
"Damn you…" She lowered her blade.  
"Don't do it, Light," Hope wheezed, still held down the time defenders. "Don't you dare do it. I'll be alright. Just ru-" Noel silenced him with a hard kick in the face. Lightning winced. She'd never wanted to hurt someone so badly before in her whole life. Not even Barthandelus. Not even Caius.  
"Coward." She folded her gunblade and put it back in its case. She was shaking with anger. This was the reason why she used to avoid getting attached to people. Attachments equal vulnerabilities. She watched helplessly as the time defenders cuffed Hope's hands behind his back. His nose was bleeding from Noel's kick. _He's my vulnerability, and Noel knows it. _She stood motionless, glaring at the time defenders still standing. Which, for the record, wasn't that many. Most of them were still writhing in pain on the floor. In the end, Noel himself had to cuff her wrists, since none of his soldiers dared to approach her.  
"Great crew you've got there, Noel." She winced when Noel tightened the cuffs an extra notch.  
"Move." He gave her a push towards the elevator. She held her head up high and walked with her back straight. She would come up with a plan. She always did. This was far from the worst situation she'd been in. She glanced at Hope, now almost completely unconscious. Noel would pay for that.  
"What are you waiting for? Get in there!" Noel was yelling at his men again. The men in question were standing outside the elevator, hesitating. They _really _didn't want to be in a confined space with her. She gave them a humorless grin, which made some of them take a small step back. _Hope was right, _she thought, _I _am _still terrifying. _The thought gave her a tiny bit of comfort.  
"Hey, boss, can't we just shoot her?" Noel gave the man an approving nod. _Crap. _She glared at him. Something about him was just plain _wrong_. His whole presence reeked of insanity. The madness was especially prominent in his eyes... W_ait a minute. _She looked at his eyes again.  
"What th-"  
The time defender shot her right in the chest. She could feel the sedation bullet kick in immediately. She sank down on her knees. Hope was right, it did hurt like hell. She spent her last coherent thought on Noel. _  
His eyes used to be blue. _

This time, Lightning didn't wake up in a hospital bed. Instead, she woke up on a hard and cold surface. She opened her eyes. She was lying on the floor in an empty cell. The floor was white, and so were the walls and the ceiling. _Guess I'm back at the ITP, huh. _Her cuffs had been exchanged to a single heavy manacle bolted to the wall. Its chain was approximately a meter long; long enough for her to lie down without disjointing her shoulder, but too short to be used as a weapon. Her gunblade was gone, and so was her grav-con unit.  
"Damn it!" She truly despised being unarmed. Noel had stolen her gunblade twice, now. She wrote it down on her mental why-I-hate-Noel-Kreiss list. It just kept growing.  
A slight movement in the other end of the room revealed that she wasn't alone in the cell.  
"Hope? Is that you?" She heard an affirmative grumble. "Are you okay?"  
"I think I have a concussion." Hope sat up in his end of the room. His face and clothes were stained with blood. "And I'm cuffed to the wall," he added, sounding more offended than in pain. She took that as a good sign.  
"Shouldn't your concussion have healed by now?" She looked at her own chest. Her skin only had a tiny scar where the bullet had entered. The bullet itself lay right next to her on the floor.  
"I heal slower than you. Faster than an ordinary human, yes, but not nearly as fast as you. Your healing capabilities are incredible." _  
_ Lightning nodded absently. She was already trying to find a way out. The room's only door was out of reach for both of them. She examined the chain to her manacle. She tried to detach the chain from the wall, but it stayed in its socket no matter how hard she pulled.  
"Hope? Exactly how strong are you?"  
"I don't know, really. I mean, I can lift a car, but I don't think I could stop a runaway train." Lightning wanted to slam her head into the wall. _He can lift a freaking car… Don't yell at him. He has a concussion. Don't yell.  
_"So, why are you just sitting there?" She tried to say it in a nice way. She really did. "Just pull the chain out of the wall." _  
_"Oh," Hope said with a goofy smile, "I didn't think of that." _Be nice, be nice, be nice. _He rolled up the sleeves of his white bloodstained shirt. It was the same shirt he'd been wearing when he lent her his coat earlier. She felt a pang of guilt. He'd welcomed her to his world with open arms, and in return she'd wrecked his home, ruined his clothes and given him a concussion. All in less than a day. She'd always been good at messing things up, but that had to be a new high score.  
"I'm sorry for dragging you into this," she said while watching him work on his chain.  
"Don't be. You would have done the same for me. Well, except for being caught by the enemy. I'm sorry for that," he said with a sad smile. He gave the chain another tug, and the socket made a creaking sound.  
"Hey Light, I think it's working!" Hope's sad smile turned into a triumphant grin. "If I get us out of here, we're even, right?" She returned his smile. Hope's face flushed instantly.  
"No. I'll always owe you more than I could ever give in return," she said quietly, still smiling. The socket in the wall made another creaking sound, this time followed by a rattle.  
"I think a screw came off. We'll be out of here any minute now."

They didn't have a minute.  
Hope was still working on the last screw when the door opened and Noel entered the room. Lightning was on her feet in seconds. She tried to get into a fighting stance, which turned out to be quite tricky without a weapon and one arm chained to the wall. Noel ignored Hope completely and walked with steady steps towards her. He stopped precisely outside her reach.  
"What do you want from me?" she yelled. He took a step closer, and she immediately threw a punch in his face. He didn't even flinch.  
"Dea Mortis, servabo, ut tempora recte ducam," he mumbled to himself, staring at her with his mismatched gaze. Recognition hit her, and she stumbled backwards into the wall.  
"No way…"  
"Light? What's happening? Leave her alone!" Hope was yelling from his side of the room. Noel took yet another step. She kicked him hard in the groin. Still no reaction. She tried to punch him again, but he grabbed her wrist and slammed it into the wall. She let out an involuntary cry when she felt the bones in her wrist break.  
"Pathetic." He grabbed her throat in a singlehanded stranglehold, almost lifting her off the ground. He held her like that for a while, watching her stand on her tiptoes, struggling for air. She could hear Hope panicking in the background. She looked into Noels eyes, and she finally understood the last piece of the puzzle. Half violet, half blue. One body, two souls. _Noel's not the only one in there. _He grinned as he saw it sink in.  
"Caius?"  
"Welcome back, warrior goddess."


	7. Reactions

"Welcome back, warrior goddess."  
Lightning couldn't believe she'd been so blind. The changed behavior, the sword, the violet eye… It was all so obvious in hindsight. _How on Pulse did Caius mind get into Noel's body? _She clawed desperately at the gloved hand currently strangling her, but her human strength didn't stand a chance against the strength of a l'Cie. Caius tilted his head slightly to the side and stared at her, examining her from head to toe. The movement was eerily predatory.  
"You used to be stronger."  
"You used to be taller." Lightning wheezed the words out, lungs running out of air. The man smiled a wolfish grin. It looked strange on Noel's boyish face, so different from the cocky little smirk he used to wear.  
"You are weaker than a kitten." He gingerly stroked her cheek and tucked away some escaped strands of hair behind her ear. The touch was so repulsive she had to fight the urge to throw up. In that moment she truly felt like a kitten, a prey stuck in the talons of a raptor. Defenseless. Pathetic. She thrashed even harder against his grip.  
"Adorable," Caius mumbled, oblivious to her struggle. He continued to play with her hair. "Maybe I could keep you as a pet for a while..." He disappeared into his own thoughts. Black spots were starting to cloud Lightning's vision. She realized that Caius had probably forgotten that she was no longer immortal and that asphyxia could actually kill her.  
_I'd rather die than become his pet, anyway. _

Hope was so angry he could barely even think. He helplessly watched the man who apparently wasn't Noel approach Lightning. He heard the sharp sound of Lightning's wrist breaking as the man trapped her against the wall. Her involuntary little cry filled his body with a feverish fury.  
Hope tried everything to shift the man's attention from Lightning to himself instead, but no matter what profanities he yelled, he was still completely ignored. Lightning's face was turning paler by the second. She looked so small, dangling from the man's strangling grip. Hope's protective instincts were roaring at him, demanding him to do something, _anything_, when the man suddenly touched Lightning's face. At first, Hope thought the man was going to hit her, so he struggled even harder against his chain. Then, as he noticed the complete terror in Lightning's eyes, he realized what was actually going on. The man was _petting _her.  
The chain didn't stand a chance.

"Don't touch her!"  
The hand strangling Lightning was abruptly yanked from her neck. Hope had managed to wind his manacle chain around Caius' neck, and was now dragging him away from her as fast as he could. She fell to the floor, landing hard on her butt. She took a deep breath through her aching, already bruising throat, savoring the air reaching her lungs. Two deep breaths later and she were back on her feet, ready to join the battle taking place in front of her. Hope was still clinging to Caius' back in an odd-looking piggyback ride, and Caius was doing his very best to throw him off. The situation was so bizarre that Lightning had to repress a snicker. _Must be the air deprivation, _she thought, as she tried to figure out a way to help Hope.  
To Lightning's great frustration, Hope had successfully moved the fight out of her reach. Caius managed to elbow Hope hard in the ribs, sending him flying through the room. Moments before colliding with the wall, Hope turned in the air and used the wall as a springboard. With newfound momentum he launched himself back into the battle. In a battle between l'Cie, gravity always seemed to take a break.  
The men were almost equal. They had the same l'Cie induced strength, and though Caius was more skilled, Hope compensated by being twice as angry. Lightning noticed some new moves in Caius' fighting style. Some changes were to be expected, him having a shorter and scrawnier body than in Valhalla, but some of his new movements were pure Noel. _Two souls, one body… _She got an idea.  
"Noel, are you in there?" she yelled. "I really need to talk to you." Caius froze. The air crackled, as if there was a sudden surge of electricity pulsating through the room. The man – Noel or Caius, she wasn't certain – turned around, eyes unseeing, lost in his own world.  
"_Dea Mortis, servabo, ut tempora recte ducam," _he mumbled.  
"You really are insane, aren't you?" Lightning whispered in awe. She recognized the words as the Time Guardian's oath. She wasn't very good at Latin, but she knew the oath went something like '_goddess of death, I will protect her, as I lead time straight'_.  
"Noel? Snap out of it, Noel!" Hope had noticed the sudden change, too. He seized the opportunity and moved next to Lightning. _Are you okay? _he mouthed. Lightning gave him a small nod, hoping that her hair was covering most of her new bruises.  
"It's a necessary evil. I wish I didn't have to do this, I really do, but I have to protect the timeline. I'm sorry, Lightning, but you carry the last piece of Etro inside you. I swore an oath to protect time, and for time to flow freely Etro has to remain in Valhalla. I have to remove you from this timeline."  
"What are you talking about? I'm human, Noel! I've been human ever since I returned from Valhalla." _Probably._ "I don't know why I'm here now or how I got here. All I know is that this is a timeline Etro didn't foresee. Something changed, Noel, and me returning to Valhalla won't make that change undone." _Probably. _"I'm a part of this timeline, now. How can you be sure that sending me back won't create another paradox?"  
"I traveled through the Historia Crux. I've seen every possible timeline, and you weren't in any of them. Caius says this is the only way for me to protect time."  
"Why on Pulse are you listening to Caius? He's the one who tried to kill Etro in the first place, remember? He tried to destroy the world!" Hope was still breathing heavily with anger.  
"Caius is a part of me now. On my own, I wasn't strong enough to protect the people I loved when they needed it the most. Caius made me stronger. When I pierced his heart, Etro abandoned him. Instead of being transported to the realm of the dead, his soul ended up inside of me. She abandoned _us. _I have to protect time. I have to return Etro to Valhalla." Noel was starting to sound like a broken record, and the air around them was once again filled with static electricity. Caius was reemerging.  
"What about Yeul, then?" Lightning was grasping at straws, trying to keep Noel from disappearing into his own mind. "She wouldn't have wanted this. She never agreed with Caius, she wanted the world to be safe."  
"Yet still the world let her die every single time. Etro abandoned Yeul, too. In this timeline, Yeul was never reborn. She's gone forever." The crackling sound was getting louder and louder. It reminded Lightning of a game she and Serah used to play, where they would find a light switch and try to balance it right between the off and on mode. By doing so, they had managed to create crackling sounds and tiny flashes of lightning. They used to do it all the time, until they accidently made a light bulb explode. _No wonder he's going crazy.  
_Noel/Caius started to mumble the Time Guardian oath again.  
"Hope! What are you waiting for? Run! It's only me he wants anyway." Lightning grabbed Hopes hand. "Please. I'm begging you. Just… please, just run."  
"I would never leave without you. You know that." Yes, she did know that. But she still had to try.  
"I promised I'd keep you safe." The memory made her heart ached. She'd done such a lousy job at keeping that promise.  
"I don't know if you remember it, but I promised I'd keep you safe, too." Hope grinned a little. "I promised I'd try, anyway." He grabbed her manacle chain in a firm grip and started to pull.

"I must say, that was quite rude," said the man who was no longer Noel. They'd once again run out of time. The door opened, and a time defender was suddenly visible in the doorway.  
"Is everything okay in here? We heard some weird sounds."  
"Everything is under control." Caius smirked. The time defender nodded and left the room. "Did you two really think Noel would help you? I have got that poor boy's mind wrapped around my little finger."  
"Is that your plan? Slowly breaking Noel's mind, just to have his body for yourself?" Lightning was stalling for time. Caius let out a laugh that couldn't be described in any other way than _evil. He really enjoys being the bad guy, huh, _Lightning thought.  
"I will have my body back soon enough. You are going to ensure that, my dear warrior goddess." He let out another laugh. _Well, isn't that diabolical master plan.  
_ With a rattling sound and a small cloud of dust, Lightning's chain left its socket in the wall. Caius glared at Hope.  
"That little boy of yours is starting to annoy me." Caius pulled out his monstrous sword from its sheath on his back.  
"No!" Lightning tried to cover Hope with her body but was just a notch too slow. Caius slammed the broadside of the sword into Hope's temple, rendering him instantly unconscious. Lightning managed to sling an arm around his waist and caught him before he hit the ground. Her knees nearly buckled under the weight. She glared at Caius with hate burning in her eyes. _He will pay. _  
"Oh, kitten. How I wish I did not have to kill you." He disappeared into his own thoughts for a moment, and then added: "The portal will not open for a couple of days, though…" He reached out, as if to touch her hair again. She wanted to shy away, but that would mean dropping Hope. She felt like she'd rather die than being touched by Caius again, but dying was apparently not on the menu. Not yet. She helplessly watched as the man of her nightmares closed the distance between them. She was close to hyperventilating, fight-or-flight instincts kicking in. Her weakness disgusted her. _Defenseless. Pathetic. _  
The moment Caius gloved hand touched her face, something strange happened. The world darkened, as if she'd put on a thick pair of sunglasses. Everything around her turned somewhat see-through, illuminated by an eerie green glow. She looked at Caius, who was completely unaware of her sudden change.  
"Your l'Cie brand is placed right over your heart, isn't it?" Lightning whispered.  
"How did you know that?" Caius raised a questioning eyebrow.  
"I can see it…" The brand was shining brightly through his chest in that same green glow. It was connected to his veins, spreading the glow through his body in a rhythmical pulsating movement. She looked down at her own body. She didn't have a brand, but she could still see the same glow pumping through her veins.  
As if using a new muscle for the first time, she tentatively reached for Caius' brand with her mind. She didn't know what she was doing or why, she just felt like it was something she was supposed to do. When she touched the brand, waves rippled through the glow.  
"What are you doing?" Caius asked. His voice was tainted by the tiniest hint of fear. Lightning ignored him. Suddenly, she was inside his mind. It was an ugly sight; a mess of hatred and madness. She saw Noel's soul lying dormant in the middle of it all, a tiny peck of light in the overwhelming darkness. She could feel something flow from her soul into Caius' body.  
Moments later, it was all over. Lightning's mind retracted from Caius', and her vision returned to normal. Caius' hand, still resting against her cheek, was completely motionless. The person in front of her was frozen in place. _No way. This is not happening. No way, _Lightning thought, eyes widened with shock. _He's been turned to crystal. _She could still feel his mind inside the man-shaped gem. Somehow, she knew he would wake up soon. Really soon. She looked at Hope. He was still unconscious, hanging from her quickly tiring arm. She picked him up in a fireman's carry, and took a trembling step. _I can do this, _she thought to herself as she took another step. She remembered what she'd once said to Hope, many years ago.  
"It's not a question of can or can't," she said, as she forced herself to keep on walking. "There are some things in life you just do."

Lightning was rummaging through the storage room in the ITP lobby when Hope woke up.  
"Light!" she heard him shout from the armchair she'd left him in.  
"Just a moment!" She finally found her gunblade and her grav-con unit. The ex-receptionist had been right; the storage was a total chaos. Weapons, clothes, furniture, books; the storage had everything._ And now I know why he collects it all... _She refused to think about that. In fact, she refused to think about anything that happened in that cell at all.  
Lightning grabbed Hope's airwing from a shelf and reentered the lobby. Hope was staring at her. He grabbed her undamaged hand as she handed him the boomerang.  
"Are you okay? How did we get out?"  
"I, uh, managed to lock Caius up in our cell. Then I carried you here." Which, in its own way, was the truth. It just wasn't all of it. Hope looked skeptical.  
"You carried me?"  
"Yeah."  
"13 stairs?"  
"Yes." The conversation was making her uncomfortable. She pulled her hand free. "Look, Hope, we really need to leave now. He won't stay in there forever." Lightning turned around and started walking. She could still feel Caius' mind through some distant mental connection, and she knew he would wake up any minute now. She also knew that when Caius actually woke up, she wanted to be far, far away from him. Caius had always been a sore loser.  
Lightning came to an abrupt stop as strong arms encircled her waist. Hope turned her around and brushed away the pink hair covering her neck and shoulders. He gasped when he saw the bruises.  
"I'm so sorry, Light. I tried to protect you. I tried to keep you safe. I'm so sorry." Hope hugged her close to his chest. He combed her hair with his fingers, as if to erase the memory of Caius' touch. "I'm sorry." She could feel his lips on her neck. His grip was hard but gentle and strangely soothing. She took a moment of just enjoying Hope's proximity before she pushed him away. _I could probably stay in his arms forever. _She quickly repressed the slightly embarrassing thought. They were running out of time.  
"You did well. I couldn't have done it without you." Lightning gave him a smile, and then added: "But you know, I can take care of myself. I can take care of both of us."  
"I know." He gingerly touched her bruises. "I just… I just want to protect you." His words lingered in her chest, making her heart tingle. She cleared her throat.  
"We really need to go." She felt Caius open his eyes. "Now." They fled the room and started running. Hope pulled out his cellphone and called a number on speed dial.  
"Hey, Sazh, it's me. I'm at the ITP again, and I need a ride ASAP." He paused for a moment, and then added: "We're going down to Pulse."

**Hello, lovely readers! Your friendly writer Cia speaking. Sorry 'bout the hiatus. And all the cliffhangers. I'm a horrible person. Did this chapter answer all your questions? Probably not. But I promise, it will all make sense in the end. Love you guys and all your feedback.  
- Cia**


	8. Refugees

"Everything's a lot easier when you can fly, huh," Hope said as they jumped over the fence.  
"This grav-con unit has way more juice than my old one," Lightning said happily. She'd always loved new gadgets. "My old one died immediately if I tried to bring someone along with me." They landed on the pavement outside the ITP with a soft thud. They had yet to come across any guarding time defenders, which led Lightning to the conclusion that Noel's army wasn't precisely crème de la crème of soldiers. _That's what you get when you choose quantity over quality, _Lightning thought with a smirk. _They wouldn't stand a chance against the Guardian Corps. _The thought hurt a little. Just days before the Purge, she'd been recommended for officer training. She'd been so clueless back then, so willing to follow orders. But that had been before Serah was made a l'Cie. So many things had happened since then. So many lifetimes had passed. She could barely remember what it felt like to have a normal life. She'd been made a l'Cie, then fought as a knight of a goddess, and now she could apparently turn people to crystal with her mind. A nine-to-five job felt really far away. _So what am I supposed to do when all of this is over? _Could she really pick up her old life again? Did she even want to? Most of the time she looked back on Valhalla with fear and resentment, but there was a tiny part of her that had almost _enjoyed _being there. The infinite battlefield, the constant adrenaline, the equal opponent… Even if she did regain a normal life one day, that part of her would always be a warrior.  
A familiar airship landed next to them, and a scowling Sazh opened the door to the cockpit.  
"I leave you kids alone for a couple of hours, and _this _is what happens? You're all over the news!" He glared at them as they climbed inside the vehicle. "You know what they're saying? 'Director arrested for sheltering a refugee and exerting violence against the authority', that's what they're saying! Do you have any idea how worried I was?"  
"It wasn't our fault," Hope grumbled, looking down on the floor. _So this is what it feels like to have a dad, _Lightning thought with a snicker. The two men glared at her.  
"I'm sorry," she quickly added. She'd been an orphan during most of her teenage years, so this was basically her first real parental scolding. She kind of liked it.  
Sazh sighed deeply and fired up the engine. "So, where should I drop you off?"  
"I was thinking Oerba," Hope answered. "The ITP has no influence there, and we could stay with Serah and Snow."  
"Oerba it is, then. Buckle up, kids. We might have to break some speed limits."

_I'll finally get to see Serah again. _Lightning couldn't even remember the last time they'd spoken without one or both of them being in some sort of mortal danger. She sighed happily. In just a few hours, she'd get to see her baby sister again. She could barely wait.  
"So, Light, what really happened after I passed out?" Hope's voice pierced her state of inner peace. _Crap.  
_"I already told you."  
"You said you managed to lock Caius in our cell while carrying me at the same time. With a broken wrist, no less." He gave her a skeptic look.  
"Adrenaline rush?"  
"I thought you trusted me." The disappointed tone in Hope's voice made her heart ache, but she just wasn't ready to talk about it yet. If she talked about it, she'd have to _think _about it.  
"Please don't make me talk about it," she said quietly. "Please." Hope, taken aback by her sudden vulnerability, gave her a nod.  
"Can I see your wrist, then?" Grateful for the change of topic, Lightning removed her glove. They both winced at the sight of the mess hidden beneath it. The wrist was about twice its ordinary size and completely covered in bruises. Black spots revealed where Caius' fingers had dug into her skin.  
"At least it's not my sword hand," Lightning said, feeling the need to calm Hope down. He was starting to look a bit homicidal. "And it will probably heal soon. It doesn't even hurt that much." Hope gingerly touched one of the black spots, and a hiss of pain escaped from her lips. She'd never seen Hope look so grim before.  
"Damn it!" Hope punched the wall of the airship hard enough to leave a dent.  
"Take it easy back there!" Sazh yelled from the front.  
"I'm sorry." Lightning didn't know if Hope was apologizing to her or to Sazh. Probably both.  
"You really have to stop apologizing for things that aren't your fault. Caius did this. Not you. You have nothing to apologize for." She paused for a moment. "Well, except for the dent. That's definitely on you." Hope gave her a small smile.  
"I just feel a bit useless, that's all."  
"Don't be silly." Lightning gave him a small flick on the forehead. It was a habitual movement, something she used to do all the time when he was 14. She immediately realized that it probably wasn't the most appropriate thing to do to a 28 year-old. The puzzled look on Hope's face was priceless. For the first time in millennia, Lightning laughed.

Hope Estheim, the director of a famous research institute and founder of a continent, had just been flicked on the forehead by a pink-haired warrior. He really didn't know how to react to that. Then, said pink-haired warrior had started to laugh. He really didn't know how to react to that, either.  
It started off as a quiet snicker, but quickly evolved into a full-blown fit of laughter. Hope was looking more and more confused, which apparently made it all even funnier. After a while, his confused look turned into a goofy grin. Lightning's laughter was genuine and contagious, and most of all extraordinarily beautiful. Hope leaned back in his seat and enjoyed the moment.  
Even though her skin was covered in bruises and her pink hair was a mess again, her joyful smile made her look like normal 21 year-old. Young. Innocent. _Beautiful. _Hope was painfully reminded of the vulnerable girl hiding behind the soldier mask. She wasn't invincible, even though it sometimes seemed like it. Even though she sometimes seemed to think she was. Hope looked at the dark handprints on her wrist and throat, and was once again filled with anger. He was mad at Noel for letting Caius take over his body. He was also mad at himself for not being able to protect her. Most of all, he was mad at Caius. The man who'd corrupted his city. The man who'd tried to destroy the world. The man who'd hurt the girl he loved.  
_He will pay. _

A couple of hours later, Sazh dropped them off right outside Oerba. Last time Lightning had been in Oerba, it had been nothing but ruins. The crystal powder that had covered the ground and made the town uninhabitable was now gone. This Oerba was covered in green grass and beautiful flowers, just like it had been before the War of Transgression according to Fang and Vanille. They had told them about the lost beauty of their town, but she'd had a hard time visioning it when the group of l'Cie had visited it so many years ago. She could definitely see its beauty now.  
They walked towards a gate separating Oerba from the rest of Pulse's wilderness. Two teenage boys with guns way too large for them stood right outside the gate, acting as guards.  
"What's your business here in Oerba?" one of them yelled. His voice broke in the middle of the sentence. He couldn't be older than 15. They were both clad in some sort of uniform, with slight similarities to the one the male Guardian Corps soldiers used to wear.  
"I'm Hope Estheim, and this is Lightning Farron. We're here to visit Serah and Snow." The boys looked at them suspiciously.  
"How do we know you're not from the ITP?" the boy with the breaking voice asked.  
"Hope Estheim. Lightning Farron. We're not from the ITP." Hope seemed surprised that they didn't recognize their names. Or, more precisely, that they didn't recognize _his _name. _I guess he's become quite famous on Bhunivelze. _  
"I'm Serah Farron's sister," Lightning added. "Pink hair, looks a bit like me, dating a man bigger than a polar bear."  
"We know her. But how can we be sure you're related to her? You might just be lying." _Be nice, don't yell, they're just kids. Be nice. Don't yell.  
_"What's going on, kids?" a familiar voice shouted from inside the gate. A giant blonde with a dark grey trench coat emerged. His face lit up in a wide grin when he spotted them.  
"No way! Light, is that you? It really is, isn't it? You're finally back!" The man ran towards them in all his 6'7" glory. For a moment, Lightning seriously considered fleeing. Or punching him in the face. She always got those impulses when she saw this man.  
"Hi, Snow. Where's Se-" She didn't have time to finish the sentence before Snow picked her up in a crushing bear hug.  
"We've missed you, sis!"  
"Don't call… Whatever." She couldn't help but feel a little happy to see him. 500 years later, and Snow was still exactly the same. _How is that even possible? Did he time travel, too? _  
"Hey, Hope! Saw you on the news today, nice going." He released her and easily picked up Hope in the same kind of hug. Compared to Snow, Hope looked downright petite._  
_"Nice to see you again, Snow. Yeah, seems like we're fugitives now, too." Hope said when his feet were back on the ground. "Could we stay with you guys for a while?"  
"Sure, that would be awesome! Like a big family." Snow's smile grew even wider. "Serah's gonna be so happy to see you guys…" He paused for a moment, eyes widening in surprise. "Wow, Light smiles nowadays?"

Together they went through the gate, passing the embarrassed teenagers on the way.  
"Sorry, boss. We didn't know they were friends of yours. We couldn't be sure, you know?" said the one with the broken voice.  
"It's okay, you did good." Snow patted him on the back and ruffled the other boy's hair. "What do we say?"  
"The ITP's no match for Nora!" the boys chimed happily. Lightning felt the sudden need to hit something. Or someone. Preferably Snow.  
"You're still doing that Nora thing, huh," she sighed.  
"Yep! We're keeping Oerba free from time defenders," Snow answered proudly.  
"By recruiting teenagers?"  
"They want to help, so I let them. And hey, it works. Oerba is still an ITP-free zone."  
The trio walked in silence through the narrow streets of Oerba. The town was pretty much white-picket-fence picturesque, with a suburban everybody-knows-everybody vibe that reminded Lightning of her old hometown Bodhum.  
They came to a stop outside a two-story house with an actual white picket fence. The house's wooden walls were painted white, with black corners and window frames. The lawn was green and prosperous, and the flowerbeds surrounding the house were filled with plants from Old Cocoon. Lightning could smell the aroma of freshly made cinnamon buns coming from the open windows.  
"Serah, I'm home!" Snow yelled, opening the unlocked front door. A slightly overweight cat met them in the doorway, rubbing his head against Snow's legs.  
"Hi, Snow Junior." He scratched the cat behind its ears.  
"You named a cat after yourself?" Lightning raised an eyebrow.  
"Serah named it. Long story." He picked up the cat, and before Lightning had time to react he'd placed the cat in her arms. "Say hello to aunt Lightning, Junior." Lightning almost panicked. She had no idea how to hold a cat. She decided that it was probably like holding a baby, but then realized she had no idea how to hold a baby either. She awkwardly held it against her chest. The cat seemed to think she did an okay job, purring loudly.  
"Snow? Are we having guests over?" a soft voice called from upstairs, and a slim pink-haired girl gracefully bounced down the steps. Serah Farron was possibly the only one in the world who could bounce gracefully. Her hair was shorter than before, but still tied up in her usual ponytail on the side of her head. Her blue eyes widened when she caught sight of Snow's guests.  
"Lightning?" She rushed down the remaining steps, and Hope managed to pick up the cat and save it from being squashed mere moments before Serah threw her arms around Lightning's neck.  
"You're back! You're finally back!"  
"I'm back." Lightning returned her embrace. Serah immediately started to cry, and Lightning felt her own eyes tear up a little.  
"I saw you die," Lightning whispered.  
"And I saw you turn to crystal for me." Serah clung to her even harder.  
"Serah, I'm sorry. About dragging you into this. About everything." Tears were now flowing freely down her cheeks. "I thought I'd never see you again."  
"Don't cry, sis," Serah sobbed, crying just as much herself. "We're here now. We're finally together."  
They stood there in the vestibule for a long time, just holding each other and crying, completely ignoring the two men standing next to them. Serah snapped out of it first, realizing that Lightning wasn't the only guest in the house.  
"Oh, hi Hope." She released Lightning from her grip. Lightning quickly brushed away her tears and put on her soldier image again. _I'm really getting soft. _  
"Hey, Serah, it's alright if they stay with us for a while, right?" Snow put an arm around Serah's shoulder, still as addicted to her touch as ever.  
"Of course." Serah leaned against him. "Like a big family." They shared a secretive grin.  
"Then it's settled. I'll go make some coffee. We have a lot to talk about."

They ended up talking for hours. Serah was first up to tell her story. After Etro had saved her from crystal stasis, she'd become a seeress. Etro's gift had given her the power to see the future and travel through time, but had also predestined her to die young. Time gazing strains the body, and in the end she'd died from those visions. Serah could remember her last conversation with Lightning. She could also remember what it was like to be dead, lost within the darkness of the seeresses souls. But then, something had changed. The same power that had released Lightning from Valhalla had also released Serah from the dead. Serah never fell from the sky like Lightning, but had instead found herself in a timeline where she simply never died.  
"You seriously fell from the sky?" Snow asked, sounding somewhat impressed.  
"Yes. I fell through the roof at the Academy HQ."  
"You've always been great at doing spectacular entrances, but that has got to be at least a top five."  
"Remember when she jumped right into a street race in Eden? That was a good one, too," Hope said with a grin. "I mean, she even ended up winning the race." Snow agreed that that entrance might have been even better. The group was just about to lose topic and start discussing epic Lightning entrances instead, when Lightning thought it was time to change the subject.  
"What about you then, Snow?" she asked. "Shouldn't you be, uh, you know… dead?" Snow immediately stopped smiling.  
"Sis, don't be mad, okay?" Serah said nervously as Snow rolled up his left sleeve.  
Lightning could barely believe her own eyes. Branded into his skin was the mark of a l'Cie. The mark was white instead of black and red, meaning it wasn't active at the moment. But that could change from one moment to the next. Lightning was speechless.  
Snow took a deep breath, and told them his side of the story. When Serah had told him about Lightning's disappearance, Snow had taken off to try and find her. He'd run into trouble at the crystal pillar of Old Cocoon, where a giant flan had started to slowly pulverize its roots. He'd quickly realized that his human strength wouldn't be enough, so he'd begged Etro to make him l'Cie again. Somehow, his wish had been fulfilled.  
"But that is so incredibly stupid!" Lightning tried not to yell. She really tried. Serah took Lightning's hand in hers and gave it a little squeeze. Snow ignored her exclaim and continued his story.  
With Etro's powers, he'd gained the ability to travel through time. He was never able to use portals like Serah and Noel, but was transported to the time and place the goddess needed him to be. He'd been slung back and forth through time for several years, summoned to one place after another to do Etro's bidding. One day in the middle of a summoning, his mark had turned white. He'd kept his l'Cie powers, but could no longer time travel. That was in 406 AF.  
"Wait, so how old are you?" Hope asked, trying to add up the math.  
"I'm 118 years old. But my body's not a day older than 23!" Snow answered with a childish grin. "What about you, Hope?"  
"Mentally and physically I'm 28, but I guess you could say I'm 515, since I never really time traveled."  
"And I'm 22," Serah added with a smile.  
"I guess you're the baby of the group now, Light," Snow said teasingly. "You're 21, right?" Serah and Snow looked at her expectantly. Uncomfortable silence spread through the kitchen.  
"Well, I suppose that's true, physically," Lightning answered reluctantly. "Mentally, I'm… uh…" She had to pause for a moment. "I _think _I was in Valhalla for three or four thousand years. Caius used to update me on how long I'd been there about once every ten years, just to mess with me, but he grew tired of it after a millennium or two."  
If the silence had been uncomfortable before, it was now truly unbearable. Serah started to cry again.  
"It's okay, Serah, please don't cry." Lightning squeezed the hand still holding on to hers. "We're here now. That's what matters."  
Since they all already knew Hope's story, him being famous and all, they jumped straight to Lightning's. She gave them a brief summary of her time in Valhalla and quickly moved on to her eventful days in Academia. The group listened intently to the part about the Noel/Caius experience.  
"So Caius controls Noel's body?" Snow looked like he was trying to wrap his head around this new piece of information and was failing miserably with the task.  
"Only sometimes. Noel's the one confiscating people. He really is insane," Hope explained patiently.  
"I think Caius is taking over more and more of Noel's body," Lightning added. "Every time they switch, Noel gets a little bit crazier."  
"But what do they want? What's their endgame?" Serah asked. She'd stopped crying and was now sounding genuinely curious.  
"Noel wants to protect the timeline. He thinks that he has to remove everything even remotely connected with time traveling to do so, including people. He's completely brainwashed. And Caius…" Lightning took a deep breath, gathering strength for the final part of the story. The part she saw from inside Caius' mind.  
"Caius," she continued, "thinks that the only reason the world didn't fall apart when his heart was pierced is because Etro managed to manifest inside someone else's body. He still wants to kill the goddess and turn this world into Valhalla. That's why he's been making Noel collect artefacts; he's going to use them to open a gate to the Void Beyond. He believes that if he sacrifices the person carrying the last piece of Etro to the void, Valhalla will merge with this world and create a timeless realm where he can be with Yeul again."  
"Then we'll just have to find that person before he does! No problem. The ITP's no match fo- _aouch!_" Snow was interrupted as Hope punched his shoulder and Serah stamped on his foot. Lightning sighed.  
"That person is me. He wants to sacrifice me."

**Hello, readers! Your friendly neighbourhood writer Cia here again. I hope you liked the chapter! This story is becoming way longer than I'd originally planned, and I love it. Your lovely feedback is what keeps me going. Thank you, my darlings.  
**Seems like everytime I write things from Hope's perspective, "A wish for something more" by Amy MacDonald starts playing in my head. **  
**_I think you're beautiful but your hair is a mess_  
_And your shoes are untied, but that's what I love best_


	9. Retribution

"That person is me. He wants to sacrifice me." Lightning looked around to see the group's reactions. Serah's eyes were filled with tears. Hope was looking grimly homicidal, though not very surprised. Snow, on the other hand, looked completely flabbergasted.  
"Wait, what? Caius thinks you're Etro?"  
"No, he thinks Etro is _inside _me," Lightning explained patiently. "Caius believes that the last piece of the goddess is hidden within my body, and that that piece is what's keeping the world from falling apart."  
"But that's bullshi-"  
"Language," Serah interrupted by habit, using her school teacher voice.  
"That's bullcrap," Snow exclaimed instead. "Right?" None of the other three said a word. "Right?"  
"I honestly don't know. I can do… _things. _Weird things. Things that humans shouldn't be able to do."  
"Like what?" Serah asked, voice filled with worry.  
"Yeah, Light, like what?" Hope gave her an intense stare, filled with worry, anger, and fiery determination. "What is it that you're not telling us?"  
_I have to tell them, _Lightning thought, shivering on the inside. She really didn't want to say it out loud. If she kept it all to herself, she could pretend it never happened. She swallowed hard. _They'll think I'm a freak. _  
"Icanturnpeopletocrystalwithmymind." She had to physically force the words out. The confused looks on the others' faces told her that they hadn't been able to decipher her mumbling. She tried again. "I can turn people to crystal. With my mind."  
"No way! That's like, the coolest super power ever." Snow almost sounded jealous.  
"That explains things," Hope mumbled to himself.  
"But how?" Serah asked.  
"I'm not sure… I've only done it once. Caius touched me, and I panicked. Suddenly, he was crystal." Lightning was over-simplifying it, but she didn't know how to otherwise explain her out-of-body experience. "I've been thinking about it, and the only explanation I can come up with is that Caius is right; I do carry a piece of Etro inside me."  
"In a strange kind of way, it actually makes sense," Hope said thoughtfully. "Etro named you her knight and protector in Valhalla. If she had to manifest in someone, you would probably be her first choice."  
"So, what do we do now? If Lightning does carry the last piece of Etro, Caius will never stop hunting her." Serah squeezed Lightning's hand again. "We won't let him have you, sis. We'll come up with something." Snow and Hope nodded affirmatively. Lightning felt one of her many layers of anxiety lift from her heart. Of course they'd be there for her. She felt stupid for thinking otherwise.  
"Thank you," she said, giving them a small smile. "We'll come up with a plan."

They decided that the plan making had to wait to tomorrow. The clock was way past midnight when Lightning finally lay down on the bed in Serah's and Snow's guestroom. She'd borrowed one of Snow's old t-shirts to sleep in, since all of Serah's pajamas were too small for Lightning's muscular body. _And way too frilly. _She crawled under the covers of the soft king-sized bed.  
"Goodnight, Light," she heard a voice call out through the slightly opened door. Hope was sleeping on the couch right outside the guestroom. She'd tried to convince him to take the bed, but the "you haven't slept in a bed for millennia" argument was pretty bulletproof.  
"Goodnight, Hope."  
She closed her eyes, and fell asleep instantly.

_Etro's crystal throne stood empty in the Void Beyond. Lightning could feel herself being pulled towards it, an almighty power forcing her to kneel before it.  
"Etro," she whispered, voice echoing through the ruins. "What do you want from me?"  
The fal'Cie goddess filled Lightning's mind with sounds and images, her only way of communication. It was a painful procedure, and for a moment Lightning thought the crackling sounds and flickering lights were going to make her head explode. She fell to the floor, tears flowing from her eyes, trying to catch her breath. The images kept playing in her mind.  
Every single vision showed Caius dying. In one image he was decapitated, his head violently separated from the body by a familiar gunblade. In another image, he was pierced through the heart, also by the same blade. Drowned. Poisoned. Shot. Stabbed.  
"I get it! Please, stop!" Lightning yelled. The images disappeared. "You want me to kill Caius." She could feel Etro's approval. "But how do I kill him, without killing Noel?" She immediately regretted the question when images once again filled her already battered brain. She gasped.  
"No… No. No! It's not fair! Why must I always be the one to… to…" She tried to stand up, but her legs wouldn't hold her weight. She sank down on her knees again. "I served you for thousands of years. How can you demand this from me? Haven't I done enough?"  
Etro disagreed. She filled Lightning's mind with visions for the third time, this time in an even grander scale. She showed Lightning why she could never escape her retribution, why her sins could never be atoned for. She lined up every death Lightning had ever caused, intentional or unintentional, direct or indirect. Every dead PSICOM soldier, every slain ci'eth. Everyone who's blood was on her hands.  
"Please stop," Lightning begged, but Etro would not listen to her plea. Blood started to flow from her nose and ears, leaving red spots on the stone floor. The visions continued on and on, like a never ending movie of Lightning's sins. Etro was right. She could never atone for all of them. "I'll do it. I'll serve you. I'll kill Caius." The images stopped, and a wind of harmony caressed Lightning's skin. "Good girl," Etro whispered, and released Lightning from her dream. _

Lightning woke up with a sharp intake of breath and a small cry that sounded suspiciously like a sob. She sat up, slightly disoriented.  
"Light? Are you okay?" Hope rushed into the room. He was shirtless, wearing only a pair of oversized pajama pants. His silvery hair was pointing in every direction. "… Are you crying?"  
"No, I'm not." Yes, she was. "Don't look at me. Go away." She couldn't stop her tears from falling. The visions were still haunting her. There was so much blood on her hands. Too much blood.  
"But…"  
"Go. Away." Hope turned around and left the room. Another sob escaped from her lips. She didn't want to fulfill Etro's wish, but the goddess' demands were unconditional. _It's not fair… _  
Hope suddenly stormed into the room again.  
"I can hear you through the wall. I can't sleep when… when I know you're…" He sat down next to her. "It just hurts, you know? Being far away, when you're like this." He looked at her with pain in his eyes, and brushed away a tear from her wet cheek. She quickly turned her face away.  
"Don't look at me."  
"I won't." Before she could react, he pulled her into his arms. She instinctively tried to push him away, but wasn't sure he even noticed. "I promise, I won't look. I won't ask, either. Just please… let me stay." Hope's nearness had already started to calm the violent storm raging inside her. _I don't deserve him, _she thought, but nodded anyway. Hope lay down on his back and pulled her down next to him, so her head could rest on his shoulder. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her close to his chest, making her lie almost on top of him. She could feel his steady heartbeat through his bare skin. Her whole body was trembling, and her breaths consisted of quiet sobs.  
"I'm pathetic," she whispered, still unable to stop crying.  
"No, you're not." Hope kissed her on the forehead and started to run his fingers through her hair. Lightning felt small, encircled in Hope's arms. Usually, that would have made her uncomfortable, but with Hope it wasn't so bad. It was even kind of nice. Their bodies fit together perfectly. She felt… safe. _Am I allowed to be weak for just one night?  
_She decided that yes, she was. Tomorrow, she would be a soldier. Tomorrow, she would save the world. But tonight? Tonight, she would cry over the life she'd never get to live.  
Hope continued to soothingly stroke Lightning's hair. She could feel her body slowly relaxing. It took somewhere between a long time and an eternity for her tears to dry up, but in the end, they finally petered out.  
"I'm fine, now. You can go back to sleep." She felt a bit embarrassed. She'd never cried like that in front of anyone before. _I'm getting soft. _"I can take the couch, if you want the bed." Hope didn't release his grip around her waist, nor did he try to move from the bed. "Hope?" The man beneath her remained unreactive, breathing heavy breaths. She let out a short snorting laugh. "I know you're not sleeping. You're still playing with my hair." The hand playing with a strand from her bangs stopped for a moment, and then continued its movement. A quiet laugh rumbled through his chest. Lightning smiled and closed her eyes. _Only for tonight. _

"What are they doing up there?" Serah whispered, suppressing a giggle.  
"Do we really wanna know?" Snow answered, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Serah gave him a small punch.  
"I'll go and check." She gave Snow a quick kiss and climbed out of the bed. They'd been awakened by the sound of someone running around upstairs. Then there had been silence. Then, there had been some more running around going on up there. The house had been silent for quite a while now, so she believed it was probably safe to take a look. She carefully walked up the stairs, skipping the steps she knew might squeak. The first thing that struck her was that the couch outside the guestroom was empty. She giggled a little. _I really shouldn't look, _she thought as she stalked towards the open door, _but I _have _to see this.  
_Hope lay on his back in the middle of the bed with Lightning draped on top of him, their limbs completely entangled. Serah felt like doing a victory dance. She'd been worried about Lightning's tendencies to isolate herself from the world. But, here she was, sleeping on another person's chest. Not on just any person's chest, no, she was sleeping on _Hope's _chest. Serah sighed happily. Hope had always been a good influence on her sister. _And they look adorable together. _She absentmindedly placed her hand on her stomach. _Like a big family. _

**Hello, your friendly neighborhood writer Cia here again. I hope you were in the need for some hopurai fluff. I know I was. (Aren't we all **_**always **_**in the need for hopurai fluff?)  
… I'm not even going to start with the dick jokes on this one. I could go on forever. Please stay in touch, my lovely readers. Every comment makes my day.  
- Cia**


	10. Reluctance

_Crap, _Lightning thought as she once again tried to get out of bed. _This is way harder than it should be. _  
Her plan had been simple: Wake up, get out, save the world. The waking up part had been unexpectedly hard. The comfort of the warm and soft bed was one of the reasons. The comfort of the warm and not so soft body beneath her was another. Hope's calm and heavy breaths had threatened to lull her right back to sleep. _One more hour, _she'd thought. _One more hour won't hurt anyone_. The goddess resting inside her had violently disagreed, and had once again filled Lightning's mind with images of the deaths she'd caused. The goriness had left her wide awake. Her need to stay in Hope's embrace had been frighteningly intense, but she'd still initiated step two of the plan; getting out of the house, preferably without anyone noticing it.  
Lightning knew what she had to do. She also knew that none of the house's inhabitants would let her do it. Therefore, she'd tried to sneak out of bed without awakening Hope. This task had turned out to be even harder than waking up. She'd almost succeeded on her first try. She'd managed to remove the arms wrapped around her, and had almost reached the edge of the bed when Hope moved in his sleep. He'd turned over to his side, and had somehow managed to crook an arm around her waist. Before she knew it, she'd once again been enclosed in his arms. As a final touch, Hope had wrapped one of his long legs around her, effectively trapping her against his body.  
Lightning sighed and enjoyed a few more seconds of spooning with Hope. Her heart rate sped up when Hope nuzzled his face against her neck. Her cheeks flushed, and a tingling sensation spread through her chest. The reaction caught her completely off guard. She couldn't even remember the last time her body had reacted like that. _It's almost as if I'm… _She pushed the thought away, sorting it into the do-not-open-ever category of her brain.  
Lightning could feel Etro getting inpatient. She reluctantly tried to remove the hand placed on her stomach, but Unconscious-Hope did not approve. He grumbled a little in his sleep and pulled her even closer.  
She ended up having to crawl out of his grip. The procedure took a ridiculous amount of time, and she could feel Etro's amusement. _I liked you better when you were dormant. _She took a quick visit to the bathroom, changing back into her uniform. She looked longingly at the shower cubicle, but the sun was rising, and Serah had always been a morning person. _Serah. _Lightning's heart ached. For a moment, she'd almost felt like she had a home again. A family. She pushed away the pain. _I don't have time for a pity party.  
_Lightning went back to the guestroom to fetch her gunblade, hidden beneath her pillow as usual. Hope was lying right where she left him, arms still formed in an empty embrace. He looked lonely. Lightning stalked towards the bed, trying not to look at him. _I don't have time for guiltiness either. _She carefully lifted the pillow and grabbed the saber. Just when she thought she'd actually pulled off step two of her plan, a large hand caught her wrist.  
"What are you doing?" Hope sounded suspiciously alert for someone who was supposed to be newly awake.  
"I'm just… Uh…"  
"You were going to leave, weren't you?" Hope's voice was cold and leveled, but his eyes were burning with anger and betrayal. Lightning averted his gaze, letting her silence answer his question. Hope grabbed her other wrist, the one holding the gunblade.  
"It's not like I'm surprised or anything. I know you, Light. I know you're planning on doing some altruistic crap, otherwise you wouldn't run away like this. Not when you've finally reunited with Serah."  
"I don't have a choice."  
"Why does it always have to be you? You're always so willing to sacrifice yourself. What about the rest of us? What about the ones you leave behind?" His grip around her wrists tightened, forcing her to drop her blade. "What about me?" Lightning winced. Her guilt threatened to swallow her whole. _I don't have time for this. _  
"I have to go." She couldn't bring herself to even look at him. "You have to let me go."  
"Do I really?" Hope mumbled, more to himself than to her. "Do I really have to let you go?" Without a warning he flipped her over, and Lightning suddenly found herself lying on her back with her hands trapped above her head. "I'm not fourteen anymore. I'm stronger than you now. I don't care if you hate me; if physical force is the only way to stop you from hurting yourself, I will use it." Lightning tried to move, but Hope was right. With his l'Cie strength, he was stronger than her. She could see the muscles of his bare torso – _wait, are those abs? _work as he lowered himself over her. With his face mere centimeters from hers, she was forced to finally meet his gaze. The intensity in his eyes left her speechless. He was serious; he really would do anything to keep her safe, whether she wanted it or not. It scared her.  
"Let me go," she hissed, refusing to let her fear shine through.  
"Promise me you won't sacrifice yourself. Promise me you won't try to save the world all on your own again." Lightning could see so many powerful emotions radiate through his eyes. Anger. Desperation. Determination. Then there was that other emotion, the one she'd seen on his face more and more often since she returned. The one that turned his boyish goofiness into passionate ferocity. She flushed. "Promise me." Hope's gaze lowered from her eyes and fixed on her lips instead.  
Lightning panicked, and headbutted Hope with as much power as she could muster. The collision probably hurt her more than it hurt him, but it gave her the opportunity to follow up with a knee to his stomach. With the new momentum she managed to push Hope away from her body.  
"Strength means nothing if you don't have technique," she said, giving him a dignified glare as she arose from the bed. Hope was still trying to regain his ability to breath. "Goodbye, Hope." She picked up her gunblade and left the room without looking back. _Why does he have to make this so hard? _Every step hurt. She wanted to turn around, to check if he was okay. She wanted to apologize for breaking her promise to never abandon him. Most of all, she wanted to stay. In this house. In this world. _But we can't all get what we want, can we? _At least, Serah was happy, and that thought gave her comfort. Serah was going to get her happy ending. _That's more than I could ever ask for.  
_Lightning left a note on the kitchen table, and then walked out of the house she would have loved to call home. As she walked through the garden, she recognized some of the flowers in the flowerbeds. A pang of nostalgia hit her as she looked at the pink gerberas, Serah's favourite flowers back in Bodhum. Lightning had never said anything back then, but those had always been her favourites, too. _I'm silly, _she thought as she picked some of the gerberas and put them in her chest pocket. On some irrational level, she felt like she was now carrying a piece of home with her.  
"Light, wait!" The door opened, and a fully dressed Hope rushed out. Serah had worked some magic on his white shirt, and it was now free from bloodstains. He awkwardly came to a stop a couple of meters away from her. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what got into me. I never should have…"  
"You're right, you never should have." Lightning walked past the white picket fence, leaving the wooden house behind her.  
Hope followed her. "But it doesn't change anything. I won't let you sacrifice yourself. If I can't make you stay out of harm's way, I'll simply have to go wherever you go. You can't stop me from following you."  
_Crap. _Lightning sighed dejectedly, having a strong feeling of déjà vu. "I thought you said you weren't fourteen anymore."  
"Yeah, but some things never change." Hope grinned. "Besides, you need me. I mean, how did you plan on getting back up to Bhunivelze? I might be a fugitive, but I can still pull some strings from down here. We'd be up there in no time." Lightning hadn't really thought about that. Hope was right; having the Director's influence would simplify things. In addition to that, even though she knew it was pure selfishness, she really didn't want to leave Hope behind.  
"Don't slow me down."  
"I won't."  
Hope pulled out his cellphone and started to call around.  
"A ship will pick us up in ten," he finally said after more than half a dozen calls. "We're still the main topic of every news station, but the ITP has been suspiciously inactive. They're still confiscating artefacts, but they haven't put that much power into finding us."  
"That's because Caius knows I'll come to him."  
"And you're still going?" Hope arched an eyebrow. "Even though it's a trap?"  
"Yes."  
"So, my guess is that Etro gave you an order, which you don't want to talk about, and based on that order you've made a plan on how to stop Caius, which you don't want to talk about either. Am I right?"  
Lightning nodded. "Still happy you tagged along? It's not too late to change your mind."  
"We're partners. I go wherever you go. But things would be a lot easier if you'd share your plans with me." Lightning gave him a sad smile, but remained quiet. _I don't deserve you. _  
"You know, if you attempt to do something stupid, I will stop you."  
"You will try." Lightning took Hope's hand in hers. Hope looked surprised for a moment, but then returned her melancholy smile, and intertwined his fingers with hers.  
"I will try."

Hand in hand they walked through the empty streets of Oerba, as the sun slowly arose in the horizon. They both knew it was the calm before the storm, and that the path they'd chosen would lead them to an unavoidable battle. Lightning would fight to save the goddess, and Hope would fight to save Lightning. They had chosen their paths, and could now only hope their courses would not collide. The Director and The Warrior, walking side by side. An army of two, preparing for war.

On the kitchen table of Serah and Snow lay two handwritten notes. The first one was written with straggly letters, the other in elegant cursive script. The first one read:

_Dear Serah  
I'm sorry, but I have to leave again. I have to stop Caius, and I now know how to proceed. I wish we'd had more time together. Please, live happily ever after. I'll always love you.  
- Lightning _

The second note was considerably shorter.

_I'll bring her home.  
- Hope_


	11. Recreation

"So, we're really just going to walk in through the front door? That's the plan?" Hope gave Lightning a skeptical look as their new vehicle descended next to them. One of Hope's loyal academiers had provided them with an airship within ten minutes, just as promised.  
"It's the beginning of the plan, yes." She gave the ship a quick look-over. "Are you sure this thing will fly all the way to Bhunivelze? Without, you know, crashing?" The airship looked like it was at least half a century old, and looked more like a relic than a working vehicle. The sound from the engines reminded Lightning of her old sewing machine, and the sound it made moments before it broke down completely.  
"It doesn't look like much, but this baby flies just as good as the newer models. Mostly." The academier jumped out of the ship and landed clumsily on the ground. "It's got this one little flaw though. Nothing to worry about, but, uh… It can't land." Now that he mentioned it, Lightning noticed that the ship was hovering about one and a half meter above the ground. "I'll go fetch a ladder. I'll be back in ten!" He started jogging towards the inner city of Oerba.  
"It's okay, we'll manage," Hope yelled after him, but the academier just smiled, waved and continued to run. Hope sighed. "I swear, they think I'm completely helpless." He rose up on his tip-toes, grabbed a handlebar placed next to the airship's only door andpulled the ship down to ground level.  
"After you, milady," Hope said with a smug grin. _I'll never get used to that, _Lightning thought as she climbed onboard. She turned around to give Hope a hand, and almost lost her balance when the ship suddenly rose a few decimeters.  
"Hope?" The ship stabilized again. Hope was looking at her stomach, blushing wildly.  
"You're wearing my piercing. I mean, your piercing. The piercing. Which you are wearing." _Oh. _Lightning realized that her position on the ship had put her midriff right in Hope's field of vision.  
"I found it in the uniform. I liked it, so I put it on." She fumbled a little with the silver lightning bolt in her bellybutton. "Should I take it off?"  
"No!" Hope exclaimed, way louder than the situation required. He averted his gaze and cleared his throat. "No," he repeated with a calmer voice. "It looks great on you. I'd just forgotten all about it, that's all." Hope had a strange look of relief on his face. Lightning decided to let it go. She smiled and poked him on the forehead.  
"Then I'll keep it. Thank you." She reached out her hand again, and this time Hope took it and let her drag him onboard. The ship wobbled alarmingly. "Are you really, _really_ sure this thing will fly all the way to Bhunivelze?"  
"Desperate times," Hope said with a grin and sat down in the driver's seat. "Besides, I've flown worse."

"I changed my mind. This is the worst ship I've ever flown," Hope said through clenched teeth.  
"Uh-huh," Lightning answered, holding on to her seat as if her life depended on it. As long as they'd been driving on Pulse, the ship had done a fairly okay job. The ride had been bumpy, yes, but not life threatening. Their real issues had started when they'd begun the ascending part of their journey. Apparently, the ship did not like defying gravity. Not at all.  
"Just a little bit more. Come on, come on, come on. You can do this." Hope was talking frantically to the ship. The engines were sounding more and more strained, and the ship was losing speed. If they could just reach the gravity sphere protecting Bhunivelze, they would be safe. Now, right in the middle between Gran Pulse and Bhunivelze, losing speed completely would be bad. Really, really bad.  
"We're going to die. We're really going to die."  
"Don't say things like that in front of the ship. You're a good ship. Yes you are. Oh, yes you are…"  
"It's a ship, Hope! It can't hear you," Lightning hissed, knuckles turning white.  
They had almost come to a complete standstill when Lightning got an idea. She freed herself from her seatbelt and opened one of the windows that weren't sealed shut with rust.  
"Light? What the- what are you doing? Are you crazy? Stay in the ship! Light, are you listening to me? Do _not_ leave the ship!"  
Lightning left the ship. It was a tight fit, but she managed to push herself out through the window. She was almost blown away by the strong wind, but managed to hang on to the window frame with one hand and pull out her grav-con unit with the other. _Let's see how much extra juice Hope gave this thing, _she thought as she turned it on with a snap of her fingers and placed it on the ship.  
The answer turned out to be _a lot. _Lightning had to hang on for dear life as the ship started to accelerate again with the extra power. Her hair and cape was flapping wildly behind her, and she let out a laugh. _This is fun. _After a while, she pulled herself back inside the vehicle, closed the window and put on her seatbelt again. Hope was glaring at her with such furious intensity she was glad he was stuck in the driver's seat.  
"What? I knew what I was doing." _More or less. _"And I fixed the ship." Lightning gave him a dazzling smile. Hope sighed, anger melting away from his eyes.  
"You're going to be the death of me, you know that?"  
"You'll be fine." Lightning closed her eyes and turned away her face, hiding her sudden surge of shame. If she carried out Etro's plan, she would have to abandon Hope again. He wouldn't be fine, and she knew it. _But at least he'll live. They'll all live. _

An hour later, they were finally standing on solid ground again.  
"Are you sure we can just leave it like that?" Lightning asked, looking back at the sad excuse of a vehicle. The ship was looking like an abandoned air-balloon, hovering above them on the empty parking lot.  
"I don't think anyone in their right mind would even try to steal it." Hope was still a little shaky.  
"No, but this might qualify as illegal littering."  
They started to walk towards the main entrance of the ITP. They both got the feeling of impending doom when they approached the gate.  
"Are you sure about this?" Hope asked, grabbing Lightning's hand.  
"Yes." _No, not at all. _"I have to go in there. I have to stop him."  
"There has to be a better way to do this. What if they tranquilize us the moment we set foot in there?"  
"No, Caius would never do that. We were together in Valhalla for millennia. I know him. He…" Lightning sighed, fidgeting in discomfort. "He made a sport out of messing with me. In his own twisted way, he respects me. I was the one person he could never defeat. During our time there, he always came up with new ways of tormenting me. I think it made him… happy." She shuddered. "He would never pass up on an opportunity like this. If he's going to sacrifice me, I'll be awake the whole time. It would be his final victory."  
"If this is your method of trying to convince me to let you go in there, it's really not working," Hope said grimly.  
"I have to do this. It's the only way. I could run away and hide with Serah and Snow, but in the end, Caius would find me. We'd just be postponing the unavoidable. Noel would continue to confiscate people, and those lives would be on my hands. I've already caused enough deaths in this world."  
Hope squeezed her hand and took a deep breath. "What if I… What if I killed Noel? That would solve everything, wouldn't it?" he said with a trembling voice.  
"What? No!" Lightning looked at him with shock in her eyes. Hope met her gaze, his eyes filled with raw determination. _He really would do that for me, wouldn't he? _The sudden insight frightened her. "He's the one who protected Serah from Caius. He saved the world. We owe him more than that. Besides, Caius has the ability to move from one body to another. Killing Noel wouldn't stop him."  
"But your plan will?"  
"Yes."  
Hope was silent for a few seconds, and then asked the question Lightning had hoped she'd never have to answer.  
"In this plan of yours, do you survive?"  
_Crap._ She quickly looked away. "… I don't know."  
Hope grabbed her shoulders, shaking her. "I'm serious, Light! Does your plan include your survival, yes or no?" Lightning fixed her gaze on the ground. She didn't know what to answer, so she remained quiet. Hope swore. He placed a hand under her chin and tilted her head backwards, forcing her to look at him. His emotions were written painfully clear on his face. Worry. Sadness. Anger. And, of course, _that _emotion. "I'll ask you one more time: Are you going to survive this?" His eyes were ruthless, demanding an answer. She suddenly found that she could no longer lie, not to him or to herself.  
"No, I'm not," she whispered, a single tear escaping from her eye. She angrily brushed it away from her cheek. "Why do you have to make this so hard?"  
"You know why," Hope answered, and kissed her.

Lightning's heart nearly stopped when his lips met hers. His lips were soft, but the kiss was hard and demanding. Hope pulled back for a second, as if asking for permission to proceed. Lightning's involuntary gasp was all the answer he needed. He wrapped an arm around her waist and rested a hand on the nape of her neck, entangling his fingers in her hair, and pulled her in for another mind-numbing kiss. Lightning wound her arms around his neck, no longer certain her legs would carry her without his support. She answered his kiss with a burning need just as intense as his. Her lips parted, and they both gasped when their tongues finally met. _This is it, _Lightning thought, savoring Hope's taste. _This is where I belong._ As if sensing her thoughts, Hope pulled her even closer. She belonged in his arms, and he belonged in hers.  
"Please don't go," Hope whispered, kissing her cheek. "I don't care about Caius." He kissed her forehead. "I don't care about the world." He kissed her nose. "I waited so long for you. Please don't leave me again. Not now. Not yet." He kissed her lips again. "I love you. I've always loved you."  
The words echoed through Lightning's chest, filling it with warmth and bittersweet happiness. She smiled, and another tear escaped from her eye. In another time and another place, they could have had a wonderful love story with a wonderful happy ending. If she'd just been an ordinary girl, she could have lived happily ever after with him. If she'd just been anyone else than Lightning Farron, knight of Etro, chosen once again to save the world.

They were interrupted by the sound of dozens of guns uncocking, and a man indiscreetly clearing his throat.  
"As adorable as this may be, we cannot wait all day. It is time, warrior goddess," Caius said, using Noel's voice. A small army of time defenders surrounded them on all flanks.  
"I don't know what will happen to you in there, Hope," Lightning whispered, resting her head against his neck. _I might really be the death of him_. "I can hold them off long enough for you to escape. There's no need for him to take us both. I'll be fine, I'll-"  
"There's nothing you can say that would make me leave, you know that, right?" Hope said with impenetrable determination. He was still holding her in his arms, ignoring Caius and his approaching soldiers. "You'll save the world, and I'll save you."  
Lightning smiled sadly, recognizing the tone in his voice. _He's sounding just like Snow. _  
"You will try."  
Hope gave her a quick kiss, trying to hide the fact that his eyes were filled with unshed tears.  
"I will try."

**A/N  
Hello readers! Your friendly neighborhood writer Cia, here. Oh yes, you finally got the kiss you've all been waiting for. Angsty hopurai fluff for everybody! Try listening to "My hands" by Leona Lewis (the outro to FFXIII) while reading the emotional parts. That's what I did.  
- Cia**

**_ ALTERNATIVE ENDING UNLOCKED  
_**_ "I'll ask you one more time: Are you going to survive this?" His eyes were ruthless, demanding an answer. She suddenly found that she could no longer lie, not to him or to herself.  
"…At first, I was afraid, I was petrified!"  
And suddenly, the whole street was doing a choreographed dance to Gloria Gaynor's "I will survive". Then, everyone lived happily ever after. THE END. _


	12. Retreat

"So, what's the next part of the plan?" Hope asked, as the time defenders closed in on them.  
"I need to get closer to Caius." Lightning unfolded her gunblade, turning it into its saber form. Her cheeks were still hot from the unexpected kiss. _He loves_ _me? _Hope's confession kept repeating itself over and over in her mind. _He _loves _me? _The statement just wouldn't sink in. Sure, she'd had some physical relationships during her time in the Guardian Corps, but they'd been nothing more than just physical. No strings attached, just a way to blow off some steam every once in a while. When the boys in the army wanted real relationships, they never went for the soldier girl. They always chose chase the cute girls instead, the ones with pretty hair and non-muscular bodies. Girls like the soldier girl's soft and gentle sister. Lightning had always been fine with that, though. Serah's natural charisma and caring persona made her easy to love. Who would want the unapproachable soldier girl, when they could go for the beautiful Serah Farron?  
_Hope, apparently._ Lightning shook her head, trying to focus on the upcoming fight. _I don't have time for this. _  
"And then what?" Hope pulled out his airwing and positioned himself behind her back, forming their usual battle formation.  
"One thing at a time. Follow my lead." Lightning flipped her inner switch and went into soldier mode, shielding herself from emotional distractions. "Ready?"  
"Ready."  
And then they were off. Using her grav-con unit, Lightning created a force field around them, shielding them from the time defenders' bullets. Hope took out snipers and other long-distance opponents with his boomerang. If a soldier tried to approach them, Lightning was there with her gunblade, slicing and shooting alternately. She no longer cared if she hurt anyone of the time defenders. Etro disapproved of her brutality, but stayed dormant in the back of Lightning's mind. _They had their chance to do the right thing, _she thought to the goddess. _I can't save everybody. _  
The pile of bodies around them kept growing. Lightning cast a glance at Caius, who was still standing next to the ITP gate. He was lazily watching the fight, looking extremely bored.  
"For how long are you going to hide behind your soldiers, Caius?" Lightning yelled as she cut down another time defender. _Another wasted life. _Etro's disapproval was rapidly increasing. "Fight your own battles, you coward."  
Their eyes met, and Lightning let out a gasp. The last trace of Noel, the mismatched blue eye, was now gone. Instead, two violet eyes met her gaze. Noel had completely lost control over his body. Caius grinned slyly and drew his monstrous sword from the sheath on his back.  
"Well then, warrior goddess. Shall we cross swords once again?" With a discrete nod he dismissed the soldiers attacking her, making them all focus on Hope instead. _Crap, _Lightning thought and immediately tried to throw herself back into the battle. She could feel Etro urging her to attack Caius, but her legs kept bringing her closer to Hope. _He's my vulnerability. _Hope was now completely surrounded by the time defenders, and all she could see was the highflying boomerang.  
"Hope!" she shouted, slashing at the wall of armored bodies separating them. "Are you alright?"  
"I'll be fine. I've got this under control." His statement was followed by the pained howl of a time defender. "Go do your thing. I'll keep them busy." The airwing swooshed through the air, hitting half a dozen soldiers on the way back to him. "You survive."  
Lightning recognized the words painfully well. It was the exact same thing she'd told him in Palumpolum, all those years ago. _Everything's backwards in this timeline.  
_She reluctantly turned around, leaving the battle behind her. _He'll be fine. He's a good fighter. He'll be fine. _She didn't have a choice; she would have to trust him to take care of himself.  
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second, finding her inner calm. _Steel your mind. Move on instinct._ She was Lightning, knight of Etro. Nothing else mattered.  
Lightning raised her gunblade, and Caius raised his sword. They'd done this before. They knew each other's strengths and weaknesses. Well, Lightning knew _his _strengths and weaknesses. Although in a new body, Caius still had the same l'Cie abilities he'd had in Valhalla. She, on the other hand, was now just human. She could no longer use magic, and she had no eidolon to summon. She was just a fraction of the warrior she once were, and they both knew it. _But I only need to touch him. A single touch, and this will finally be over.  
_Simultaneously, they rushed towards each other. Lightning let out a bellowing war cry as the distance between them shrunk. A few moments before the collision, she turned up the power of the grav-con unit with a snap of her fingers, making her gain some extra speed. Her change of velocity caught Caius slightly off guard, and when their blades finally clashed, he had to back up a few steps to keep his balance. Lightning took advantage of her momentum, and managed to deliver several critical hits on his torso. Caius looked surprised, but then gave her a chilling smirk. _Crap. He must have already casted the Body and Soul spell. Crap, crap, crap. _Her chances of winning the fight had just decreased significantly. The Body and Soul spell not only gave him an almost impenetrable defense, but would also heal any sort of injury she dealt him in just a matter of seconds. The fabric of Noel's black t-shirt was ripped in several places, but the skin beneath it remained untouched.  
"What a neat little toy. I must obtain one of those when this is all over," he said, striking the air where Lightning's head had been less than a second ago. To her great relief, she was still faster than him, even as an ordinary human. She raised her blade again and aimed for his right hand, the one wielding the sword. Caius backed up another step and turned sideways, stopping the blade with his left forearm, just like she knew he would. He'd always been fiercely protective of his sword hand.  
His movement protected him from her blade, but it also gave her the opening she'd been searching for. She didn't need a blade to win this fight. She only needed to touch him. Caius, still focusing on her blade, didn't realize her plan until she'd already began to move. She reached out her hand, aiming for his unprotected shoulder.  
Her fingers were mere centimeters from his skin, when time itself started to wobble. The air was suddenly filled with flickering glimpses from other timelines, shrouded in black clouds of chaos. The whole world seemed to move in slow motion, and Lightning found herself unable to move.  
To Caius, time seemed to work perfectly fine. He took a step away from her gunblade and started to circle her, watching her strain against her own nonresponsive muscles.  
"Did you really think that a weak little human could take on a guardian of time? You disappoint me, warrior goddess." His eyes were glowing red, and his body was transmitting chaos in black waves of smoke. "This measly, pitiable body of yours is a disgrace to what you once were." He raised his sword and hit her hard in the head with its broadside, assumingly intending to knock her out. The sheer force of the blow sent her flying through the air. Without the slightest hint of grace she hit the ground, rolling several meters before finally coming to a stop. _Don't pass out, don't pass out, don't pass out… _She shakily sat up, blinking blood out of her eyes. The sword had hit her over her temple, and blood was now gushing from the wound. Time picked up its pace again, and the clouds of chaos disappeared.  
"Light! Are you okay?" Hope kneeled beside her. "Don't worry, I took care of the time defenders," he added when he saw her questioning look. She nodded, and immediately regretted the action. The tiny movement set the world spinning, and she almost lost consciousness again.  
"Light?" Hope slid a supporting arm around her waist, helping her keep a somewhat vertical position. "Stay with me, okay?"  
Lightning tried to speak, but ended up coughing blood instead. _Great. _"Caius…?" she croaked when she'd stopped coughing.  
"He's doing… something. A healing spell, I think. Messing with time is both physically and psychologically debilitating in this realm, so my guess is that he's got some serious internal bleedings right now. So do you, for that matter. We've got to get you out of here."  
"But Caius…"  
"I don't care." Hope slid his other arm under her knees, stood up and started running. "We're retreating for now. Damn it, Light, I really thought you had a plan. Aimlessly attacking a sword wielding maniac on steroids? That does _not _qualify as a plan."  
Hope was right, and Lightning knew it. The plan had been pretty much non-existent, just an urge fueled by an angry goddess. A goddess that really didn't appreciate their retreat. Her disapproval didn't really bother Lightning at the moment, though. Strangely enough, she wasn't particularly bothered by anything at all. The blood loss was making her comfortably numb. "I'm ruining your shirt again."  
"I've got lots of shirts," Hope answered grimly. "Please stay awake for me, Light. Stay with me. There's an Academy-friendly health center with an emergency room nearby. You've got a major head trauma, and I don't think you're healing properly, so you need to stay awake for me, okay? Can you do that, sweetheart?" Hope's voice went from worried to downright panicky. Lightning hadn't even noticed she'd closed her eyes. She reluctantly opened them again. _Were my eyelids always this heavy?  
_"I'm really tired, Hope. I'm just going to rest a little. Then, I'll defeat Caius. My head doesn't even hurt that much anymore. I'm just going to… close my eyes for a bit…" Somewhere, she knew that falling asleep would be bad, but she was just so tired, both physically and mentally. Her mind was too old, and her body too broken. She just wanted to rest. _Sweetheart, huh. _She smiled a little, and closed her eyes again. _He called me sweetheart.  
_"No, no no no, please open your eyes. You can do this, okay? Come on, sweetheart," _there he goes again, _"you can do this. We're almost there. Please, Light!"  
Lightning smiled, and succumbed to the welcoming darkness.

The nurse was having a really bad day. Since the health center had declared their loyalty to the Academy, they'd lost more than half of their regular patients to other more ITP-friendly centers. Her colleges were fired left and right because of the budget cuts, and since she'd only worked at the health center for about a month, she knew there was a high risk she was next in line. So, to compensate for this, she was working day and night. Literally. She hadn't left the health center for three whole days. Sure, she'd managed to get some hours of sleep in the on-call room, but she was still majorly sleep deprived.  
She yawned, and started to nod off. She was in charge of the emergency room for the afternoon, but since it had been empty for hours, she decided no one would mind if she took a little catnap. She put her head on her desk and closed her eyes. _Just five minutes.  
_ Four minutes later, she was abruptly awakened by the sound of something way bigger than a bird smashing into the glass door. She sprang up from her chair, and almost fell to the ground because of the sudden blood pressure drop. _When was the last time I ate? _She couldn't even remember.  
Something smashed into the doors once again, and she could now distinguish the sound of a very upset man bellowing curses at the top of his lungs. _Please don't be a drunk, _she thought as she unsteadily hurried towards the door.  
Whatever she'd been expecting, the sight before her was not it. Right outside the door stood Hope Estheim, the one and only Director of the Academy. In his arms he held a girl, whose hair had probably been pink at one point. Now, it was just a crimson mess of coagulated blood.  
"Hey, I need some help over here!" she yelled, pressing a button on the wall that would page all the doctors in the building. The Director smashed into the glass door for the third time.  
"It opens outwards!" she shouted to him, but he didn't seem to hear her. "You can't push it open, you have to pull i-" The glass door fell off its hinges, breaking into million pieces as it hit the floor. "… Or you just push it really, really hard. I guess that works too." The nurse was getting dizzy. The situation was just way too absurd to handle without sleep. The Director rushed into the room, cradling the poor girl like a baby. When he locked eyes with her, the nurse had to fight the urge to do an instant one-eighty. The Director, widely known for his impeccable calm, was now looking completely homicidal. The urge grew even stronger when she looked at the girl. Her temple bone was bashed in, and parts of her brain were out in the open.  
"Fix her!" the man roared. "You have to fix her!"  
_Oh God, I changed my mind, _thought the poor, worn-out nurse who wouldn't get to sleep for yet another day. _I really would have preferred a drunk. _

**Hello, readers! Your friendly neighborhood writer Cia here again. Finally. It's been a while, hasn't it? Life got in the way of writing (I study musicology at a university now. Cool, huh?). Thanks for staying with me, lovely readers. I love writing action-filled HopeRai fluff for you.  
- Cia**


	13. Reborn

_Lightning was once again summoned to Etro's empty throne. Even though she knew she wasn't really in the Void Beyond, that this was just another vision created by Etro, she felt uneasy. The dream was much more intense than the last time. The scenery was more detailed, the air was colder, and the echoes of her steps were louder. Everything was frighteningly real. She kneeled in front of the throne, her Valkyrie armor clinking softly against the cold marble floor.  
"Claire Farron, leader of the six, warrior of Valhalla, champion of mine," a thousand voices chanted. Lightning immediately recognized the polyphonic cacophony as the voice of a fal'Cie.  
"Etro…?" she whispered, still kneeling in front of the goddess' throne.  
"Many names I've borne; though Etro is the name time has not yet washed away."  
"You can speak?" Lightning asked, perplexed and a little ticked off. Having an actual audible conversation was a lot less painful than Etro's old image bombing method.  
"From the mind of yours I've learned the tongue of mankind," the thousand voices of Etro exclaimed proudly.  
"But how? I don't talk like that."  
"The art of speaking you possess. The art of exerting it you neglect."  
"And the art of grammar seems completely lost on you," Lightning snapped. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. "What do you want? Why am I here?"  
"I want you to slay Caius Ballad, wielder of chaos, former guardian of mine…"  
"I know that already," Lightning interrupted. "I remember your commands. I remember the course of actions." _But I'm forgetting something else. Something important._ "I'm working on it, okay?" _How did I even get here? Am I unconscious_?  
"Earnestly tried, you did. Failed me you did withal. In an unfair game he bested you, wielding chaos to ensure his victory."  
_Oh, crap._ Lightning's memories came back all at once. Her hand automatically went up to her temples, touching the place where Caius' sword had hit her. In this dream world, her head was still intact. But it the real world…  
"Am I dead?"  
"Almost."  
"Crap. Crap crap crap." Lightning stood up and started pacing in front of the throne. "I have to wake up. I have to… Hope. Oh no, Hope." Lightning swore, uttering a word she hadn't used since she became Serah's legal guardian. The one that begins with an 'f', ends with an 'uck' and isn't 'firetruck'. "Etro, you have to let me wake up. Right now."  
"In time, I will. First, a gift I have for you."  
A low-pitched humming echoed through the room. As the sound increased in strength, a red hot pain pierced Lightning's chest. She recognized the pain all too well. The goddess was branding her skin with the mark that would once again make her a fal'Cie slave, a l'Cie.  
"No!" Lightning yelled as the burning pain intensified. The humming sound was reaching deafening magnitudes, and the whole room was vibrating. "I don't want this, not again, please don't do this to me…"  
The goddess didn't listen. Lightning fell to her knees as an explosion of power detonated in her chest. Etro's gift rushed through her veins, filling her body with strength and magic, making her more powerful than any human was ever supposed to be. The pain was excruciating.  
"Good luck I wish to you, Claire Farron, leader of the six, warrior of Valhalla, champion of mine… Savior of souls."  
_My resume is getting ridiculous,_ Lightning thought as she slowly faded away from Etro's dream world and slipped back into reality. _

"Fix her!" Hope roared at the worn-out nurse. "You have to fix her!" Lightning's body was rapidly growing colder in his arms, her lips turning blue. Hope had never been so afraid in his whole life.  
"Of course, of course, a crash-cart and a stretcher will be here in a second. Calm down, okay?" The nurse was nervously fidgeting with her long blonde hair.  
"Calm down?!" Hope bellowed. The nurse indiscreetly took a step back. "Have you seen her? Huh? Have you seen her head? Do you really think this is a situation where I could just calm down?"  
Suddenly, Lightning's body started glowing, as if an inner light was erupting through her skin. Hope and the nurse looked at each other in complete awe.  
"Does that usually happen? I mean, does she do that a lot?" the poor nurse asked nervously. Hope just glared at her, and then shifted his focus back to Lightning.  
"Light? What's happening? Light!"  
Lightning's body started levitating. Hope tried to hold her back, unsuccessfully. The glow increased as her body floated upwards towards the ceiling.  
"She… she doesn't usually do that either, I presume?" The nurse looked like she was about to pass out. Hope couldn't blame her. He could see Lightning's wounds healing, the dried blood vaporizing from her skin. Her hair was dancing around her face as if touched by an invisible wind. Color returned to her skin, giving her cheeks a faint blush, and her lips regained their usual rosy shade.  
A crowd consisting of various doctors and nurses had joined them, and was now staring in wonder at the sight before them. _She looks like an angel, _Hope thought, stunned by the mind-numbingly beautiful vision. _No, not an angel. A goddess. _  
Lightning opened her eyes, a loud gasp escaping from her lips. Her eyes widened at the sight of the crowd below her.  
"Hope?" she said with a trembling voice, sounding like a lost child.  
"It's okay, Light, I'm here."  
Lightning's eyes followed the sound of his voice, and he could see her body relax in the air when she caught sight of him.  
"Hope," she said again, considerably calmer. "Hope." It was like the mere sound of his name was calming her down.  
"I'm here." His fear was finally dying down, and the relief was overwhelming. _She called my name. _As long as she was alive, everything was going to be alright. _I was her first waking thought. _Lightning gave him a small smile, a smile which he immediately returned. _She called my name._  
The power causing Lightning's levitation suddenly disappeared, dropping her unceremoniously through the air. When Hope caught her in his arms again, her skin had almost stopped glowing. She wrapped her arms around his neck and took a deep breath through her nose, inhaling his scent. Hope carefully lowered her feet to the ground, but kept an arm around her waist.  
"I thought I'd lost you," he whispered as he brushed a few stray strands of hair from her forehead, tucking them in behind her ear. "What on Pulse just happened?"  
Lightning took a step back, forcing Hope to reluctantly release her from his embrace. Slightly blushing, she pulled down the zipper of her brown turtleneck.  
"I'm not… I'm not human anymore. Etro made me l'Cie again," Lightning said quietly, showing him the mark on her chest. Etro's mark was different from the mark the Pulse fal'Cie had branded her with, looking a bit like two lightning bolts winded around each other in a vaguely triangular shape. Had it not been a symbol of slavery it would have been quite beautiful, the black tattoo contrasting attractively against Lightning's pale chest. _Lightning's chest…  
_"What do you think?" Lightning's words brought him back to reality. She was looking at him expectantly.  
_That your breasts are magnificent, _Hope thought. "About what?" he said instead.  
"About the l'Cie thing?"_  
That Etro's a bitch_, he almost said, but then remembered Lightning's aversion to swearing. "I think Etro's getting desperate," he said instead. "I don't think she'd ever let you turn into a cie'th, though. We already know she has the ability to make l'Cie human again. I think you'll be fine."  
"You do?" Lightning looked at him, her beautiful blue eyes filled with complete trust. Hope was once again struck by how young she looked with her soldier façade turned off.  
"I really do," he said, and pulled her in for a kiss.  
The kiss was just as magical as the last one, and this time Lightning answered it immediately. Hope wrapped his arms around her again. Something inside him felt permanently _wrong _when she wasn't in his arms. It was like the world wasn't complete unless he had her body pressed against his.  
They were interrupted by someone clapping his or her hands. Hope looked up, slightly annoyed. Another pair of hands joined in, and soon the clapping had evolved into a full round of applauds.  
"I have no idea what's happening, but it's beautiful," a tearful doctor said.  
"Yeah, did you see him catch her? So romantic!" another doctor chimed in.  
"Yes, but isn't she a little young for him?" said a third doctor.  
"Why is no one freaking out about the girl healing a major head trauma in less than a minute while hovering like some sort of fluorescent helicopter?" muttered the poor, poor nurse under her breath.  
Lightning let out a snorting laughter and gave their audience a little wave. She then sighed, resting her head against Hope's chest. "We have to fight Caius again."  
"Soon." He wasn't ready to let her go yet. He suspected he'd never be ready to let her go. "Did you hear that, by the way? Apparently, you're a little young for me."  
"The fact that you're physically older than me is still weird," Lightning admitted. She glanced up at him, looking a little embarrassed. "Puberty really did a great job on you, though."  
"Oh, really?" Hope said with a teasing grin. "Does Lightning Farron perhaps think I'm handsome?"  
Lightning's cheeks took on a light shade of pink. Her cuteness made him grin even wider. _How can a thousand-year-old be so damn adorable?  
_"Maybe. Stop looking so smug." She reached up and kissed him, as if to erase his smugness with her lips. She succeeded.  
Then, they were once again interrupted, but this time not by an innocent round of applauds. This time, they were interrupted by an enormous explosion.

When Lightning's eyes finally decided to work again, the room was no longer a room. The walls had collapsed and the roof had fallen in, so the room was more like a big heap of wood, plastic and metal than an actual building. On top of her was Hope, who'd pushed her down on the ground and protected her from flying debris with his body.  
"Light? Are you okay?" Hope asked.  
"I'm fine, thanks to you… Hope, you're bleeding." New stains of blood covered his no longer white shirt, and those stains were rapidly growing bigger. Not until then did she see the big chunk of wood, most likely a segment of the broken ceiling, resting on his back. It had to weigh at least a ton, and Hope was holding up all of it.  
"When I said I could bench press a car, I might have exaggerated a little," he said with a strained voice. "I did it once. And it was just a micro car. One of those silly ones without a back seat."  
"Crap… It's okay, Hope, I've got this. Don't move, okay?" Lightning turned her focus inwards, searching for her magic. She could feel it pulsating from her brand, more powerful than it had ever been before. _She _was more powerful than she'd ever been before.  
"_Ruinga_!" she yelled, aiming her power at the wood, turning it to dust. Hope took a deep breath of relief and rolled over on his side. Lightning could now see where all the blood came from; a large shard of glass was stuck between his shoulder blades. The chunk of wood had pushed it deep into his body, creating a really nasty looking wound. Lightning once again said the word that rhymes with firetruck.  
"I'm going to have to pull the shard out before I can start the healing, okay?" Lightning tried to sound calm, which would have been easier if she weren't moments away from a panic attack. She mustered her strength, mentally and physically, and pulled out the shard. Blood immediately started gushing from the gaping wound, but Lightning was already gathering her magic, getting ready for healing. She put her hands on the wound, and tried to ignore Hope's muffled groan of pain.  
"_Cure_," she said, putting as much force behind the words as she possibly could, "_cure, cure, cure_." She waited a few moments, letting the magic reload, and then continued. Over and over she repeated the words, letting her magic heal all of Hope's wounds.  
"Light? You have to stop, now. There's nothing left to heal." Hope sat up and grabbed her hands, removing them from his back. "There are others here. Civilians. They need you."  
The word 'civilians' made Lightning think rationally again. She changed her mantra from _cure _to _curasa_, a spell that would heal everyone in close proximity. It was a way more draining spell, especially when used on so many people at once, but it was also a way more efficient spell than _cure. _Hope, powered up with Lightning's magic, was carefully searching the ruins for survivors. Some people he could save just by moving the debris trapping them. Others were already long gone.  
Lightning could see a hand sticking out from under a pile of bricks a few meters away from her. She took a short break from the healing, and slowly limped towards it. The _curasa _spell was wearing her out.  
She kneeled next to the pile of bricks and grabbed the hand, trying to find a pulse. The hand was cold and lifeless. Lightning knew she shouldn't waste power on the dead, but she just couldn't leave a person beneath a pile of bricks. She just couldn't.  
After two rounds of _ruinga_, the bricks were finally gone, revealing the body that had been buried beneath them. Lightning vaguely recognized the young blonde girl as one of the nurses, the one who looked like she never had time to eat or sleep. She carefully closed the girl's unseeing eyes. _At least you get to rest now, _Lightning thought, heart aching.  
"Why?" she asked herself out loud, a tear escaping from her eyes. "Why would anyone do this?"  
"Because you wouldn't come out yourself," a familiar baritone uttered. A purple-haired figure landed next to her. _Purple? _  
The man next to her no longer looked like Noel, but he didn't exactly look like Caius either. His hair and eyes were violet, and he was almost back at his original height, but he still had Noel's more slender facial structure and fine-boned body. The mixture was grotesque.  
"No more games, my dear. Do not drag others onto the path of your own unavoidable fate." He grabbed a handful of Lightning's hair, forcefully dragging her up to a standing position.  
"I have finally gathered enough chaos from the artefacts of this world to open a gate to the Void. Can you hear me, Etro? Do you know your end is near?" He pulled her up even higher, forcing her to stand on her tip-toes. Lightning tried to find the power she'd used before, the power to turn l'Cie into crystal, but she was all dried up. Now, when she was finally close enough to him to carry out Etro's plan, she didn't have a single drop of magic left. _Oh, the irony. _  
"Perhaps I really should kill you first, warrior goddess. You have been quite a nuisance." Caius paused for a moment, lost in his own thoughts. Then, he chuckled, shaking his head. "But what would be the fun in that? Come on, kitten, let us leave. This is not the proper place for a portal." He released his grip on her hair and aimed for her waist instead, planning to throw her over his shoulder, but Lightning was faster. She was always faster.  
She hurried backwards, until her back hit one of the building's few remaining walls. Caius smirked, walking slowly through the debris towards her.  
"You have already lost, yet still you play games. You truly are an endless resource of amusement."  
"You know what else is amusing?" Lightning said as Caius reached out to grab her again, believing he had her cornered.  
"I'm a l'Cie now, too." Lightning gave Caius a sweet little smile, and then smashed his face into the wall.

**Hello, dear readers! Your friendly neighborhood writer Cia speaking. Damn, what a hiatus. I'm terribly sorry, dear readers. It makes me really happy that you care so much about this story, though. I never saw that coming.  
So, this chapter got way fluffier than I originally intended it to be. This is becoming a serious problem (****no it's not, I love fluff****).  
I really hope I haven't contradicted myself with the swearing thing, by the way. It's been a head canon for me for quite some time that Lightning doesn't swear, but since I on the other hand swear like an angry sailor I might have messed up somewhere. If that's the case, dear readers, I sincerely apologize. Feel free to point it out to me.  
Reviews make me happy. And you all want a happy neighborhood writer, right?  
Love,  
Cia**


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